Once upon a time, there was the social revolution. Some brands misunderstood its power and fell victim to mass negativity when issues of transparency were called into question.
Case study: Netflix lost 800,000 customers when they rapidly adjusted their pricing and social media channels became complaint boards.
Other brands evolved to allow social into the heart of their business, changing the way they engaged with consumers.
The social revolution brought consumers accessible broadcasting.
Accelerating the rate at which:
- We built relationships
- Influence gathered momentum
- Information could be shared.
The maker revolution will bring consumers accessible manufacture.
In the same way that the Social Revolution seemed daunting, the Maker Revolution proposes some crucial implications:
- People Power: consumers will be able to directly manufacture goods for themselves.
- Personalisation: they’ll also be able to bring a level of customisation to them that would be very difficult to provide on the mass market.
3D printing allows the additive manufacture of a near-infinite number of products based on digital blueprints.
This begs the question: why would people continue to spend money on our products when they can make them cheaper and in a way that is tailored to their personality from their own homes?
The challenge for brans is adapting and evolving with the growth of additive manufacture.
So we have two solutions available to us:
- Either we hand production over to the consumer totally, and sell the intellectual property rights instead.
- Or we focus time and resources on creating highly customisable products, without the limitation of waste and cost, e.g. Ray Ban, Nike.
We've reached a point of no return where must make things that people truly want, and not continue to try and make people want things.
As for agencies like us, we remain on the same path - helping to teach brands to be heart-centered, multi-skilled communicators, and publishers of incredible content that connects meaningfully with their tribes.
The Maker Revolution offers consumers the ability to re-produce the tangible brand. But, it is the intangible world of a brand that consumers still desire to be a part of.
Which is why everything a brand does must connect with people in a way that is more than just linear.
The future is coming - you've been warned.
Click here to watch the full presentation (30 min approx)