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Project Brief We argue that mass customization strategies generate more sustainable products at lower cost and increased value. This claim is founded on research conducted on the product life-cycles of mass customized products vs. mass produced products. One key finding of the initial research reveals that the most significant source of potential energy savings comes from the customer experience processes – product acquisition, product use, and consumer decision-making.  This research shows that mass customization practices often out-perform mass production practices and lead to dramatic energy and material savings, which was revealed in our case study of men's dress shirts.

But spare a thought for the poor admen. Their industry is going through a particularly difficult time. Not only are they confronting a proliferation of new “channels” through which to pump their messages; they are also having to puzzle out how to craft them in an age of mass scepticism. Consumers are bombarded with brands wherever they look—the average Westerner sees a logo (sometimes the same one repeatedly) perhaps 3,000 times each day—and thus are becoming jaded. They are also increasingly familiar with the tricks of the marketing trade and determined to cut through the clutter to get a bargain. Scepticism and sophistication are especially pronounced among those born since the early 1980s.

A study by the Boston Consulting Group found that 46% of American “millennials” use their smartphones to check prices and online comments when they visit a shop.

Many companies want to go further and bypass conventional ad campaigns altogether. It has long been known that “earned media”—word-of-mouth recommendations from friends, family and news articles—are highly trusted. Nielsen’s studies show that strangers’ comments on social media and online forums are also now seen as credible sources, rivalling traditional “paid media”.