Voice

Consumer as the new marketer

While this session is about the Consumer donning a new Role of a Marketer, it is important to always remember that the consumer is a life with desires and emotions. Someone who loves stories, has highs and lows, celebrates and suffers.

My story today begins with the Lone Man. In the summer of 1989, he stood in front of the Chinese tanks and brought them to a standstill.

All he did was

Stand. Stand

up. He is definitely one of the first symbols of the rising power of the individual.

Malala Yousufzai- younger than all of us here. A Pakistani girl who made her Voice heard .

UnSystem. Be bold. Speak up.

Salman Khan, founder of the Khan Academy- a free education site on youtube. He talks about how our current education system is a legacy from Prussia, a country that does not even exist today. This system was designed to gear up nations for the Industrial revolution. For working in factories. For efficient production and processes. It’s a different world today where intangibles and experience command an equal if not greater premium.

Flip our thinking.

JR, a semi-anonymous French street artist, uses his camera to show the world its true face, by pasting photos of the human face across massive canvases.

At TED 2011, he makes his audacious TED Prize wish: to use art to turn the world inside out.

Turn the world

Inside Out

Break. Create

We are not talking consumer here. We are talking revolution. Empowerment. We are talking of a Voice. That is being reclaimed. This is the Consumer today.

 In 1968, Andy Warhol talked about Fifteen Minutes of Fame. Empowerment as well as the fleeting nature of fame. Finds relevance today in the digital world.

Stars & Smileys drive

performance. They are the new highs. Gives our Voice a spotlight.

Fame is being redefined.

Camp-Fires A new campfire conversation is brewing up- with like minded interest, passion groups- debates, celebration. The Red Bull Gives Me Wings is a great example.

With the consumer reclaiming her voice and technology acting as a catalyst, there is a new dimension to the brand relationship. It is a conversation. A participation.Brands need to flip- turn into culture hot spots.

Culture hotspot

s

How do brands

connect to the new

marketer?

By Embrace.Inspire, Collaborate, Open Innovation, Advocate Rating

Inspiration

Collaboration

Open Innovation

Advocate rating

I end my story with Psy- the new phenomenon. Is he a consumer who has donned a marketing hat? Is he a marketer who understood his consumer? Or are the lines getting even more blurred……

Thank you