Simon Dickson has an interesting post after last night’s open house at the new Telegraph media centre. He was struck by the the number of people who attended in their capacity as ‘commenters’. It’s interesting that they felt there was even such a capacity as ‘commenter’. They weren’t simply readers or consumers of the Telegraph brand, but actively feel that they are part of it. This is significant not just for the media, but for all brands and especially membership, advocacy and campaigning organisations.
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2 Replies to “Not readers or consumers, but ‘commenters’”
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Stuart this is intersting and of course it is not just media brands that people now feel they are actively involved in rather than passively consuming. We are telling clients now to think of their "consumers" (I always thought that was a horrible word) as co-brand managers or owners or marketers. Deference is dieing and I for one hope the "consumer" term goes with it. I guess if you are a person who still believes that the broadcast, monologue forms of communication are still valid then you will think of your customer as a "consumer". How's the big campaign going by the way?
Brands? We're the only people I know of (ie in PR and marketing) who talk about brands. "Consumers" don't talk about brands. If they like beer they talk about Theakstons, Fullers, Youngs etc.
That's what excites me about Web2.0 as it allows the "consumers" to take control of the product or service but NOT the brand. They don't talk about brands they talk about product.
What's you favourite brand? This is not a question the average teenager would answer. My son likes Vans – don't ask – but when you ask him why he wears Vans. His answer is simple: "They are cool".
I have no answer to this…