Communities, Citizen brand and the support economy

My friend Alex Nieminen, after having a peek at our book, suggested that I take a look at a book entitled the Support Economy by Soshana Zuboff and James Maxman .

As I spent the weekend gardening, raking, pruning, digging, I mulled over the Economist article , the Support Economy book and our book. I thought about one word which seems to be floating to the top of mind at the moment “TRUST” which is closely followed by what is a consumer? vs. what is a customer? Then the clothing brand Howies came to mind – the brand whose mission is to make people think about the world they live in. I know Dave Hieatt so I know his beliefs are not a fabrication. His brand is definitely a pioneer of the support economy, which requires a much greater understanding of the community you are trying to build and support.

I look at these superstructures that now populate our towns and nether regions of our cities, the Superstores, designed for a super consumer? What do these add to the shopping experience? Are these the value+ we are looking for? Yet UK retail has had a terrible Easter adding to poor Christmas trading figures. Is this then the first signs of an empowered consumer, that will not wait for for something better to come along? As an Observer article noted people have been saving on the shopping so they can go on holiday.

Here is a little note from The Support Economy

Today’s individuals have a hard time believing in the corporate institutions of managerial capitalism, even the best among them. As end consumers and as emloyees, they find it increasingly difficult to trust that their interests are being served. The evidence suggests that not only are the new individuals forced to absorb the consequences of corporate indifference, they are ready to blaze new trails. As their needs go unheeded, they are pioneering wholly new kinds of consumption experiences, hoping to find what they after. The industrial economy is no longer adequate to their demands. The service economy cannot fulfill their needs…but this depressing scenario harbours an electrifying possibility: Everything about the new individuals that is ignored today is waiting to become the focus of a new “support economy”.

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Posted in: Books

Change your newspaper as your readers are changing too

This year the 12th World editors Forum Conference is in Seoul

The brochure inviting me to the event dropped onto my door mat this morning.

Tomi and I had already spent yesterday discussing the implications of the Economist 14 page special report and how that related so specifically to our book.

This is what the brochure text had to say

This year’s general theme is focused on readers and audiences. The WEF Board decided to call the conference “Your Readers are Changing? Change Your Newspaper!” For a very simple reason: the traditional relationship between a newspaper and its readers is moving quickly.

Readers today want to “participate” in the newspaper and in its website, and sometimes they serve as “watchdogs.” Another revolution is that the newspaper can reach new communities with RSS feeds or through online aggregators. The battle to win and retain readers is becoming a “Blitzkrieg” with new rules and new weapons.

Phew, thats like a strong shot of something for a Saturday morning! In the book we have several examples of citizen newspapers from Korea, the UK and Holland. And of course we discuss the hot issue that anyone today can become a journalist – the lines are blurring as what and where does news come from.

There is as much opportunity as there is the danger of becoming obsolete for newsgroups. The problem is that there are no rules – only increasing competition.

Even Rupes is scratching his head over what the new digital economics means for his newscorp leviathan.

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Posted in: Events

Darwin comes of age in the 21st Century

Tomi Ahonen , my co-author of our book Communities Dominate Brands, made this post on EAcdemy – I thought it was worth sticking in on the SMLXL blog too…

Let it rip Tomi

The single most relevant business magazine issue/story this year is the cover story in today’s (dated April 2, 2005) edition of the Economist. Every CEO has to read that 14 page special report. The Economist puts it this bluntly in its Leader (ie Editorial) “Many firms do not yet seem aware of the revolutionary implications of newly empowered consumers.”

How significant is this story. Remember, the Economist is hardly a radical business paper, and definitely not known for hype. Yet the paper concludes with words that cannot be more alarming. They do not write that this issue is about profits. They do not say it is about market share. Nor is it revenues. The Economist Editors, in the Leader on its cover story conclude with this statement, “only those firms ready and able to serve these new customers will survive.”

Only those companies that can serve the NEW customer will SURVIVE. Others will NOT ! Did the Economist get your attention? With the credibility of the Economist, if this is its cover story, as CEO can you ignore this story?

As typical of the style of the Economist special reports, today’s cover story is of immense importance to all business. As they write in their story, this is not restricted to the internet companies or new media. The three most visible areas are in packaged goods, automobiles and consumer electronics. The articles also spend a lot of discussion on the disruption of retail and travel. Everyone is affected. Remember, not profits or revenues, your very SURVIVAL is at stake !

Here a snippet to whet your appetite: “Customers can read what companies say about products in far greater detail, but also how that tallies with the opinions of others, and – most importantly of all – discover what previous buyers have to say. Newsgroups and websites constantly review products and services. This is changing the nature of consumer decisions.”

Do you understand how YOUR customer is evolving. Not over the past 10 years. The last 2 years ! The very nature of how they make decisions is changing. Are you – and your sales and marketing – capturing this change or are you doomed to sell in obsolete means while your competitors steal your business?

Your business survival is at stake. The best investment this year is the 3.10 UKP to pay picking up the copy of the Economist today, and your most rewarding evening of reading is carefully thinking through the 14 pages special and the one page editorial on the subject. No matter who you are and what your company does, this story has real profitable money for you to implement next week.

Thanks Tomi

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Posted in: Trends

where do communities from?

The failings of that community thing is a post made by Jake McKee, who has a very interesting job working for LEGO in community interaction and development.

Jake is musing on a recent post from Common Craft

I think that the biggest reason that “community” failed in circa-1998 was that businesses were using their 1980 business mindsets to approach community. Most community was thought to happen on the corporate Web site, not where the people actually already were (which was rarely on the corporate site). When no one showed up, they assumed that community didn’t work, rather than understanding that like real estate, it’s all about the location, location, location.

I think that we have a better platform (and more importantly the right mindset) for helping to build community now, at least in theory. I think that businesses are starting to understand that they need dedicated people, who understand community, and are willing to go to them, rather than forcing them to come to the corporation.

From corner store to community, is a paradigm shift. And as a very good friend of mine a global marketing director of shall we say a big company said to me today, “You (SMLXL) are trying to break a paradigm and mental model of what marketing is. Not that we mean’t to, it just seemed common sense to us.

We are in a transition stage from industrial mindset to something other and why Tomi and I felt compelled to write our book.

Communities are multifacted – they are good, they are bad and they are ugly, they do not operate by the old rules, they have escaped from the straight jacket of consumerism and therein lies the challenge for companies.

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Posted in: Engagement Marketing

The web is not the Internet

TV News in a Postmodern World. Beyond the World Wide Web .

This is a must read.

Stuff I liked, People do not demand messages. The internet becomes powerful when it can truly deliver
1). Need to know
2). Need to buy

And of course this becomes evermore powerful as we move into a converged world which is mobile, always on and always connected.

Terry Heaton says

When our industry first confronted the Internet, I remember a lot of folks saying it was a way to expand our reach. History now reveals the silliness of that proposition. We need to think of it as a better way to reach and interact with those we already ? or in many case used to ? serve. The Internet buzzword is “conversations.” There’s no time like now to begin conversing with the people in your market. In that sense, a Website is but one tool in the vast toolbox offered by the Internet.

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Posted in: Trends

The web is not the Internet

TV News in a Postmodern World – Beyond the World Wide Web.
Stuff I liked: People do not demand messages. The internet becomes powerful when it can truly deliver

1). Need to know

2). Need to buy

And of course this becomes ever more powerful as we move into a converged world which is mobile, always on and always connected.
Terry Heaton says

When our industry first confronted the Internet, I remember a lot of folks saying it was a way to expand our reach. History now reveals the silliness of that proposition. We need to think of it as a better way to reach and interact with those we already or in many case used to serve. The Internet buzzword is "conversations." There's no time like now to begin conversing with the people in your market. In that sense, a Website is but one tool in the vast toolbox offered by the Internet.

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Posted in: Citizen journalism, Convergence, Culture, Darwin, Distribution, Economics, Engagement Marketing, Generation C, Media, Networks, Participation, Social Networks, Society, Strategy, Web/Tech

Clear channel to webcast music programs

From AdAge

As competition from iPods, cable music networks, satellite radio and online music services intensifies, Clear Channel Radio is launching a weekly Web-based video program featuring live in-studio performances.
Similar to MTV's Unplugged, Clear Channel will stream the program, called Stripped, to broadband users across the radio group's 1,200 Web sites.
Clear Channel, like the rest of the radio industry, has been battling increased competition for its audience, especially among a younger demographic more apt to migrate toward new technologies, satellite services or online radio. A recent study by Arbitron and Edison Media Research found 27% of 12- to 17-year-olds own an iPod or other portable MP3 player, and that the weekly online video audience is nearly 20 million.

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Posted in: Convergence, Darwin, Distribution, Economics, Generation C, Marketing, Media, Social Networks, Statistics, Strategy, Trends, Web/Tech

Co-creation to deliver customer value

Marketing Playbook Posted recently about the Apple iPod, and the whole accessory eco-system that has developed around it. Which has led to fierce competition among the accessory developers. Its no longer iPod killer, its the iTrip killer.
It intrigues me, as all these additional devices iTrip, Airplay etc. are brand building for Apple, without Apple spending a cent. Not dissimilar to the creative content that exploded around NTT DoCoMo. Importantly this fierce compeition delivers value+ to the customer.
And this I think is important to think about as companies work on their siloed approaches to innovation, marketing etc. That by creating a product, a service, an innovation process, that people can co-create value, either economically or from a perspective of it being a valuable experience, that has got to be good.

It removes or can remove the adversarial context that so much modern marketing is steeped in.
Last year I was asked in a presentation "is that a loyalty programme, or acquisition?" And I said, it can be all those things – that to my mind is great marketing. And what Apple has done to my mind is great marketing. Because you don't even know it exists.

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Posted in: Convergence, Culture, Engagement Marketing, Marketing, Participation, Philosophy, Science, Social Networks, Strategy

Word of mouth the new black

Just hot from my Inbox, and curiously relevant as SMLXL is currently working on a project relating specifically to customer advocacy and the importance of word of mouth.
Peer Pleasure: Teens Connect

According to comScore Media Metrix, more than 14 million Americans age 13 to 17 accessed the Internet in January 2005. The recent edition of The Score focuses on the Internet behavior of this highly sought after demographic segment.
A significant proportion of the average teen's time online is spent connecting with peers whether it's instant messaging, blogs or e-mail, says the report. Sites that facilitate or promote teen communication were among the highest ranked properties by composition of users age 13 to 17.

And I should know, as I watch my 15 year old daughter MSNing as if her very life depended on it, whilst I once again, burst into tears when I pick up her mobile phone bill to see how much she has been texting.
And I am sure if you ask Tomi, he will tell you how prolific these teens are with their mobile habits too.
Its an always on, always connected, more intimate world in many ways, where people are having conversations and building trust through close peer to peer networks.

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Posted in: 7th Mass Media, Convergence, Culture, Engagement Marketing, Engagement Research, Engagement Sciences, Generation C, Marketing, Media, Networks, Participation, Philosophy, Social Networks, Society, Statistics, Trends, Web/Tech, Weblogs

Teens Connect

Just hot from my inbox, and curiously relevant as SMLXL is currently working on a project relating specifically to customer advocacy and the importance of word of mouth.

Peer Pleasure: Teens Connect

According to comScore Media Metrix, more than 14 million Americans age 13 to 17 accessed the Internet in January 2005. The recent edition of The Score focuses on the Internet behavior of this highly sought after demographic segment.

A significant proportion of the average teen?s time online is spent connecting with peers whether it?s instant messaging, blogs or e-mail, says the report. Sites that facilitate or promote teen communication were among the highest ranked properties by composition of users age 13 to 17.

And I should know, as I watch my 15 year old daughter MSNing as if her very life depended on it, whilst I once again, burst into tears when I pick up her mobile phone bill to see how much she has been texting.

And I am sure if you ask Tomi, he will tell you how proflic these teens are with their mobile habits too.

Its an always on, always connected, more intimate world in many ways, where people are have conversations and building trust through close peer to peer networks.

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Posted in: Trends