Turning 'Clustomers' into Customers: Mailchimp's Creative Approach to Personalization

In the world of marketing, personalization is often seen as a key driver for businesses, whether they're major brands or small and midsize enterprises. Personalization not only fosters customer loyalty but also helps customers feel valued, heard, and understood, creating a deeper connection between them and the brand. Javier Molinos, creative director at Intuit Mailchimp's in-house agency Wink Creative, emphasizes the significance of personalization, saying that it's about making customers feel like they're not just another cog in a brand's wheel.

However, for smaller businesses, achieving this level of personalization can be challenging. They might lack the right tools, leading them to resort to spammy, mass emails that do little to enhance the customer experience. Mailchimp recognizes this struggle and has taken a creative approach to address it.

In their campaign "Turn Clustomers into Customers," Mailchimp tackles the issue of impersonal, one-size-fits-all marketing by introducing the concept of the "clustomer." A clustomer is a mass of diverse individuals tangled together, portrayed as a giant ball. Each person in this collective, whether they're an influencer, yoga enthusiast, musician, cyclist, or office worker, receives a personalized email that empowers them to break free from the clustomer and regain their individuality.

The "clustomer" concept is a clever representation of the pain points shared by both marketers and customers alike. It emphasizes Mailchimp's core value proposition: the ability to personalize at scale, regardless of whether a business's customer list includes 10 people or 10,000.

The creative journey behind this campaign was equally fascinating. Wink Creative delved into the world of generative AI to visualize what a clustomer would look like. The team worked with AI technology, prompting it with various words to create a visually striking representation of a customer. While AI played a significant role, the human touch remained essential. Wink Creative had to understand the emotional states of the different customers within the clustomer and craft dialogue and scenarios to deepen the campaign's impact in bumper ads and short social media clips.

What sets this campaign apart is the visual portrayal of the clustomer. The clustomer, resembling a Cirque du Soleil performance with traditional actors and contortionists, was created practically during production. The multi-day shoot not only proved rewarding for Wink Creative and its partners but also led to genuine connections between the performers involved.

"Turn Clustomers into Customers" is a testament to the power of in-house creative agencies. Wink Creative, founded in 2020, has grown to employ over 40 creatives and was even named Ad Age's in-house agency of the year. This approach offers unique advantages, as it allows for more seamless communication between the agency and the client, breaking down traditional agency-client barriers and fostering a more collaborative and inclusive atmosphere.

Mailchimp's innovative campaign is a testament to the importance of personalization in marketing. It creatively addresses the challenges faced by businesses when it comes to individualizing their interactions with customers, all while highlighting Mailchimp's ability to make personalization accessible and effective for businesses of all sizes.