Many people give their cars or laptops a name, but how does this act affect their feelings towards those objects? Canvas8 spoke to Jennifer Stoner, professor of marketing at the University of North Dakota, to find out why being on first-name terms with a product makes you like it more.

Private messaging is an ideal medium to do the obvious – open a dialogue and conduct a conversation. In fact, 59% of all US social sharing now occurs in private channels. But while people are happy to chat to their mates on platforms like Facebook Messenger, how can brands get involved?

By adopting a digitally driven, direct-to-consumer model, shipping goods straight from factories and eliminating ‘brand tax’, the Brandless site is a store where all products cost $3 or less. But will the service offer enough of an incentive to tempt people away from their local supermarket?

Personalisation is being used for everything from direct mail to coffee cups to bolster a connection with customers. But new research suggests that, while personalisation is effective when done right, getting it wrong can have long-term negative implications for brands.