Digital hippies?

For some time I have taken the view that we are moving rapidly towards (or are already in) a new age of marketing; an age which heralds a return to good old fashioned values. A return to a time when folks did business with those they liked and valued rather than with those who shouted loudest or spun a good lie and then left town before being found out.

The digital communication age should in theory move us inexorably towards a stage of perfect information – perfect ’search’ which will enable us to make choices truly relevant to our values. This should allow us to circumvent the fakers and lead to a situation where brand stand with integrity for fundamental value set and the people who work with these brands do so because they share those same beliefs – so the theory goes.

It was then, with a touch of dismay, that the thought occurred to me that those of us advocating the path of new marketing might have something in common with previous people centred movements of the past (from Jethro Tull’s back to agrarianism to the hippie movement) which came and went – bulldozed by the juggernaut of unconcerned (and blunt) corporate interest.

Are we doomed to a world where ‘mindshare marketing’ will reign supreme for the vast majority of brands? It may be that there is simply no scope for more than a handful of brands (relatively speaking) to develop a deeper, richer more emotional bond with their audience and even more restricted territory for those aspiring to iconic status.

But what gets me truly worried is the nagging thought that most people are simply not the engaging type – just not interested enough to discover what they really want or believe and therefore not proactive enough to distinguish between the charlatan and the real thing?

Are those of us expecting a new dawn just digital hippies, blowin’ in the wind?

Explore posts in the same categories: advertising, marketing