Less Mad Men...more Star Trek?

Recently we have been using this line...to cause a reaction when we do conferences but it's not really the case is it? Despite what the digirati say

It is absolutely true that we live in a marketing era which will be defined by dialogue; the dialogue between marketers and consumers, but surely its always been this way....even the Big Bad Ads from Mad Ave were all about creating conversation?

I think we have to sum up this era by 3 key phenomena:

1. Social media has made social circles much wider

These days that throw-away line, that rant from being let down or those bragging rights claimed over those limited edition sneakers can hit many more people than ever before. So its easy to spread information, particularly low-involvement information far and wide

2. Everything is captured and transparent (especially if you are Facebook)

You really can tell if someone loves Skittles or hates Verizon. You can look at that information and understand its influence. Co-incidently, that influence is usually bigger than you think

3. As a brand you can participate

As a brand you can reward people for their commitment or work to make things better if they trash you, directly. That creates a lot of power. If you use it wisely.

Also its not just reactionary. As a brand you can start the conversation, and provide the platform or venue for these conversations to take place. You just have to learn to do that with a degree of authenticity.

So if you really are a modern day Don Draper you can do two things. Firstly you can tell me who your tailor is but more importantly you can test your big ideas and you can continue to generate conversation around those ideas. Talkability is still the more powerful media, its just now we can size it and we link it to something we can put in the bank.