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The Era of 2-Way Communication With Media And Brands

Over the last year there has been an increased focus on brand’s needs to openly embrace the consumer.  Brands that have fostered an open dialogue with their audience, have been celebrated as understanding the culture shift and stepping into the modern times of marketing, while brands that continue to dictate to their audience and ignore the feedback have been demonized as likely to fail in the long run.

There is a lot to be said about the best methods for brands to embrace social media and making the transition to consumer-friendly communication, but right now I am interested in taking a look at what caused the culture shift itself.  

I’m working on a short presentation that highlights what I see as the main factors that instigated the new era of brand marketing.  I intend to take it down this evolutionary path:

1) Internet technologies make it increasingly easy for everyday people to become content producers

2) As consumers become producers, the media finds the need to integrate this new form of content with traditional messaging

3) The consumers new role in media gives us the power to dictate brand identity

4) Once we as consumers have this power, brands are forced to embrace us in our new role as partners

The presentation is meant to be image heavy, with most of the focus on the verbal discussion.  Still, I want it to follow a clear path and illustrate the point.  Please give me any feedback you have, or any ideas you have that further illustrate this culture shift – and I’ll look to incorporate them as the presentation is developed.  You can view it above, or on Scribd.