wom: consumers in control - respect, trust & marketers learning to live with it

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Consumers In Control:

Respect, Trust &Marketers Learning

to Live With It.

Robert J. Gould, Ph.D.December 12, 2006

It’s not just about controland we’re not just consumers

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What people want:

• Social connection & community• Self expression• Control

AND, oh yes,• Entertainment and information

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Person to Person

1950 - 2000The Era of Vertical Influence

Remember jingles?

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Q: TO: NET IMMIGRANTSRemember jingles?

Q:TO: NET NATIVESWhat’s a jingle?

Remember jingles?

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Remember jingles?

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Remember jingles?

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Seeds of change:Harbingers of rising horizontal influence

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CB Radio

Apple Macintosh

CB radio

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“On-line” community numbering in the thousands who spent their working lives communicating with each other over the wires but who rarely met face to face.

CB radio

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They tended to use low-traffic periods to communicate with each other, sharing stories, news, and gossip. Many of these working relationships blossomed into romances and even marriages.

Apple Computer “1984” commercial

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Horizontal influence:from a drizzle to a hurricane

• Mobile phones/text messaging• Internet/broadband/Google• Wireless• Digital cameras• Cheap video production• VCR/DVR/TiVo/iPods

AND ON, AND ON, AND ON

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The “power boosters” ofhorizontal influence

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Power booster 1 – Horizontal knowledge acquisition & production

• We have rapidly increasing ability to:• Obtain, organize, share and control information from

both vertical and horizontal sources.• Produce and share information of rapidly improving

quality (video, graphics, etc.). • Discuss, question and challenge any information we

receive vertically.

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Power booster 1 – Horizontal knowledge acquisition

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Power booster 2 – Horizontal social networking

• We’re social animals. We seek out people who share our interests and values, and establish communities.

• In the vertical era, limitations of time, space and media ensured that demographics, geography and shared vertical media experience dominated social networking.

• In the horizontal era, people can network with whomever -- whenever, wherever, and however many -- along myriad shared interests.

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Power booster 2 – Horizontal social networking

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Power booster 3 – Horizontal consensus building

• For “social animals,” conforming to peer group and cultural norms is a matter of survival.

• New technologies are empowering rapid consensus building – around ideas, entertainment, products and services.

BOTTOM LINE• It now takes minutes, not months, to know what

“we” think about anything.

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Power booster 3 – Horizontal consensus building

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Power booster 4 – Horizontal mobilization

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• When vertical influence dominated, turning horizontal consensus into action was very expensive and very time consuming.

Coordinating meetings, protests, voter drives, letter writing campaigns, social events or finding stores with the best prices, made the step between consensus and consequence a long one.

• In the horizontal world – with flash crowds, bloggings, e-mails, and text messaging, the step between call to action and action is much, much shorter.

Learning to live in a world of rising horizontal influence

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NEW RULES 1. “Consumers” are not just consumers. 2. Shakespeare got it right: “The truth will out.”

Now, it gets out faster, and to everyone. So always tell it.

3. Gladwell’s “mavens & connectors” are out there and more important than ever. Get to know them.

4. The MSM will feed its nemesis. This can be all good, or all bad for you.

5. Nothing replaces “face to face.”6. Your products and services are an important

part of people’s lives. It’s OK to stimulate and participate in the discussion.

7. But remember: your corporate behavior will also be part of the conversation.

Thanks!