Consumer Takeover

Lately we’ve been hearing a lot about how products and marketing are being takeover by consumers. Whether this is an overstatement or a true fact, we might have to debate on it a little bit further; but what we can conclude now is that the participation consumers are having in brand marketing are outstanding.

We can’t say it popped out of thin air, or that we didn’t see it coming. We have been getting substantial clues from consumers over the last ten years, perhaps we just didn’t care to pay attention.

Some examples:

The way Napster shook the world, starting as a student-created piece of sharing software to becoming a global brand in a matter of a couple of years; with the help of barely-no marketing showed marketers and business people alike the power consumers have.

Starbucks becoming the #1 recognized coffee brand in the world with a marketing spend that on its own could not have done half what the brand accomplished.

Lately, the mexican fast food chain Chipotle has been gaining momentum, fueling even more the speeding trend towards ethnic fast food joints. Chipotle has spent hard on marketing and advertising lately, but on its beginnings, there was barely no money spent on it.

The reality of it is, these brands (and many more out there) allowed their consumers to take over, without this ‘let go’ attitude and with the traditionalist control mentality, brands will need much more than advertising dollars to gain loyal followers.