Quote – Eric Hoffer. Image credit: Unknown.
Our shared understanding of reality is increasingly becoming a collection of stitched-together fragments of collective experiences we share with the tribes we form and bond with. Valuable experiences – not wealth – will be what each tiny tribe will rally around and define for themselves on a case-by-case basis. Authenticity, and generosity will – for the first time in the human experience – be scaled and networked into the foundations of how we business-plan.
Successful people and organisations in the Second Machine Age will be those who understand and can properly articulate who they are and why they exist in order to attract their desired level of critical mass and achieve their personal and organisational goals. Authenticity and generosity in the social economy will be how leaders on the fringe; on the edges and margins; in the niche’s and long-tails of the markets will continue to flatten and obviate the 20th century “normal distribution” curve that advertising has been based around.
The New Normal Distribution Curve
Don Draper’s World …That No Longer Exists
That is the death knell of mass marketing. It is the permanent and unavoidable interruption of the advertiser-led-model of media propagation and social communication.
It is why today’s business has to start by understanding it’s user base as well as itself at the same time. You can no longer buy your way into the conversation or shout loud enough to be heard above the din. You must speak true. You must be honest. You must lead with integrity and openness.
It’s a big shift, but it’s also an amazing gift if you’re in the process of redesigning, repositioning, rebuilding or rebranding any marketing or communications plan or asset: you get to revisit why you’re doing what you do in the first place, and perhaps re-light a fire that’s long been left unattended while you chased after being someone elses version of yourself.
The future is bright.