CONSUMER POWER

I am not especially fond of the following slogans: "the customer is king" and "the customer is always right." It could have something to do with that I am a true republican and trader in spirit and matter. I see myself as a producer advocate, instead of a consumer activist. Nevertheless, it was a pretty interesting article (Crowned at last) in the April 2nd issue of the Economist. The magazine had conducted a survey of consumer power.

"Who actually controls distribution in this type of world?" asks Bill Gossman. "The individual does. That's where the ultimate consumer power comes from." His company, Revenue Science, is developing new ways of "behavioural targeting". This involves analysing online consumer behaviour and then delivering ads that are likely to be relevant to groups with common interests. Mr Gossman thinks that as the world becomes more digital, his techniques will increasingly be used by all kinds of electronic media. (Economist.com, 03/31/05.)

Omar Tawakol (Senior Vice President of Marketing, Revenue Science), has written an article on "the long tail of the web." Here is an excerpt from the article, The Tail Wagging the Net.

The growth of the tail and the shift of mainstream consumers' reading to the tail is very significant because it will require publishers and marketers alike to get skilled at aggregating reach by adding up targeted volume rather than mainly concentrating on high volume, untargeted places. It also means that power is now shifting away from those who control distribution in favor of those who embrace fragmentation and learn to aggregate reach. ...

Blogs are the best example of this and the micro-sites at About.com are close approximations. It turns out that more than a third of people's time online is spent in the last third of the tail. This is huge because it means that mass media fragmentation isn't just a trend where people are shifting from three major TV channels to 200 cable channels; rather it is akin to the complete shattering of a of glass window. We should forget trying to glue the pieces back together and embrace the fragmentation because there is great value to be had in those shards. (MediaPost.com, 03/18/05.)

Related: My post, CONSUMER SATISFACTION INDEX.


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