Richard Askam, a pioneer in Personalisation, transitioned from the drinks industry to creating iconic campaigns like Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke.” His speaking career, includes leading a TEDx talk, becoming an ambassador for FESPA . In the past, he has led the conference sessions for the Personalisation Experience” conference, and will return this year to speak in a panel discussion.
30 years working in the drinks business prepared me for life as a storyteller but at the time I didn’t know it! Having created the personalised alcohol gift category for multiple major retailers in the 2010’s, my claim to fame came in 2014 when I created the online personalised Coca-Cola campaign called ShareaCoke across Europe when millions of people had a bottle of Coke with their name on it. I went on to repeat the trick with personalised marketing campaigns for brands such as Marmite, Nutella, Lynx and Dove all of which lead to an impromptu appearance as a speaker at a conference about digital print, and I have never looked back.
A TEDx talk in 2017 propelled me into the rarified atmosphere of a global speaker until Covid hit in 2020 and all that travel stopped suddenly…but after a chance meeting with FESPA’s CEO, Neil Felton while speaking at an event in Bruges in 2022 about the future of personalisation, I was invited to become a Personalisation Ambassador for FESPA across the world.
The creation of The Personalisation Experience conference at FESPA in 2023 gave Richard his opportunity to bring many more businesses inside the world of what personalisation is for and how it can add value to your business and I hosted this event in 2023 and again in 2024.
In 2025 I will be returning to the SmartHub Conference taking place at Personalisation Experience on 7th May at 12 noon to tell you all about my own personalisation experience and my journey from bottles to balls to books to AI and beyond.