Creating value for the consumer in the era of digital self-realisation

1. This session’s concept:
"The leading edge of consumption is now moving from products
and services to tools and relationships enabled by interactive
technologies....
(products and marketing) can no longer “create” value, but must
rather “realise” the value that is latent in individual space. "
Zuboff, 2010
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2. The era of
“Love is a thing guys
like me invented to
sell more nylons”*
has well and truly passed
Zuboff argues that we’ve now passed (and left behind)
the era of brand-generated value *Don Draper in Mad Men
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3. The dialogue that companies participate
in must now be outward facing
We need to engage with the consumer’s needs first.
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The old industrial logic
pointed inwards
from 1900-2000, everything functioned well if we
worked from the perspective of the organization and its
own requirements for efficiency, cost reductions,
revenues, growth, earnings per share (EPS), and returns
on investment (ROI). It seemed that whatever the
product was,
if we were loud enough,
the consumer bought it.

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The old market logic told us to
interrupt consumers.
Brands got traction asking:
“What do I have and how can I sell it to you?”

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But
we’re now in an era
where consumption
is increasingly done
at a one:one level.
Which means that the value of a product
becomes both more subjective and more
abstract.

7. When confronted consumers are
with old world starting to say no
strategies,
Artificial desires
created by advertisers
are increasingly
rejected.
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What has lead to this shift?
“Sharp increases in higher education,
standards of living,
social complexity
and longevity
over the past century gave rise to
a new desire for
individual self-
determination.” Zuboff, 2010

9. The consumer has
now matured
With increasingly infinite choice and
empowerment, the consumer now demands
that the brand meets their needs.
They use products the
way they want to,
which is not always the way brands tell them to
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10. We have entered
the era of consumer
self-realisation A fake BP twitter account set up by
a consumer during the oil spill
crisis
Brands are less able to control their image by
facing inwards, they must instead engage with
how consumers are choosing to represent
them.
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11. This translates to a consumer
desire of:
“having control
over what matters,
having one’s voice
heard
and
having social
connections
on one’s own
terms”
Zuboff, 2010
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12. Consequently, brands
cannot create and
imbue value.
Rather, they must open up the product box
and allow consumers to generate their own
unique, one:one value
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13. In the era of digital self-realisation,
a new logic needs to be built.
It is the individual
end user who needs to
inform where we start.
we need to start conversations
with consumers by asking
“Who are you?”
“What do you need?”
“How can we help?”
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14. In the era of digital self-realisation
success depends on developing tools
and relationships that empower the
consumer to create their own experiences
and shape the product to their own values
one:one
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