Today, the consumer owns the market — a market that is both global and fragmented, where small is the new big, scanning is the new reading, and insight is superior intelligence.
Brand-owning firms and even agencies tend to repeat using cookie-cutter stencils. They don’t mean to do so, but they do because of using what they know is easier and more efficient than discovery, even when cookie-cutter solutions are unreliable and short-term. True discovery demands courage, and it’s really hard to do. Sadly, most businesses are content with being history-driven.
Today, high-speed disruptive innovation occurs continuously and in every sector of the Marketplace. I recently overnighted at an airbnb one-bedroom rental in one of London’s better neighborhoods. On this trip, my Uber car appeared immediately downstairs. These sharing, matchmaking-economy businesses are making companies and brands obsolete overnight.
They are transferring and reconstructing the notion of value. They also reflect the consumer’s valuation shift from the prestige of the brand to the raw quality of the experience.
Smart is the new cool. And it’s aspirational.
