The document discusses how technology is enabling more open and fluid connections between people. It notes that technology undermines hierarchies, making it easier for anyone to work with anyone else or create and publish content. It also helps people access information and find support more easily. Additionally, technology provides access to new and unusual experiences. The fluidity that technology enables impacts how people see themselves and their communities.

1. Open connections
The new consumer relationship
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TheMarketArtist.com
201-461-3206
11/23/2009 1

2.  Tech undermines hierarchies and clusters:
 Everyone’s a reporter, a commentator, an expert
 It’s easier to work with anyone, from anywhere
 It’s even easier than ever to create and publish your
creations
 It (finally) is beginning to make doing new things easier:
 The ability to comb through a mountain of information in a
relaxed and effective way
 The ability to find help and support when and where you
need it
 Tech also helps us to find excitement and fun in completely
new places:
 The accessibility of the unusual and new
Technology makes our lives “fluid” 2
Else Consulting/themarketartist.com

3. Iconoculture’s
prediction
Enabled primarily by
technology, this trend means
that people increasingly
interact across and even
outside traditional national
and community hierarchies,
changing what societies do
and are (whew!).
(Watch out for an important
but scary intermediate stage:
tribal impulses caused by the
negative impacts of globalism
and “multi-polar” conflict.)
Source: Inconoculture: “Centerless World” 11/23/2009 Else Consulting/themarketartist.com 3

4. Of self
• Individual AND parent AND worker AND gardener/repairman/blogger/etc.
•= self-expression
Of family
•Nuclear PLUS elders PLUS a circle of valued friends
•= framily
Of fun
•Small and large experiences which shake up our norms and brighten our day
Of creativity
•Ability to be the creator (e.g., of mash videos) or the spectator, as the mood takes us
Of community
•Online “beehives” are more like swarms as they shape and disintegrate quickly
Of work places
•Work at home, distance collaboration, global workplaces create fluid teams of individuals
Of finances
•Online and mobile banking, investing enable frequent evaluations and decisions
Fluidity as an experience 4
Source: Inconoculture, various Else Consulting/themarketartist.com

5.  In general, what they want from corporations is
transparency
◦ Finding trust difficult, they’d like honesty about what’s
really going on
◦ Corporate responsibility is key
 From your brand, that could mean:
◦ Letting them see what isn’t working for your customers, and
what you are doing about it; e.g., through a wiki
◦ Letting them know what’s next on the horizon, and getting
their feedback
◦ Showing them how you and partner companies help out with
critical problems we all face, from the economy to global
warming
What do they want from you?
Source: Inconoculture: “Great Expectations” 11/23/2009 Else Consulting/themarketartist.com 5

6. A missed opportunity:
experience
People learn about new things in
two modes: experiential and
rational
•Rational learning (e.g., price and
feature comparison) is frequently
used when making final purchase
decisions
•However, the experiential mode is
far more important when learning
about new technologies, products,
categories
• In other words, news should be
primarily experiential, not rational
Source: Thomas P. Novak and Donna L. Hoffman: The Fit of Thinking Style and Situation; electronically published December 3, 2008
11/23/2009 Else Consulting/themarketartist.com 6

7.  Associate your brand with the fluid connections
of the consumer’s real world
◦ Let me express myself, and enjoy the expression of other
people
◦ Ability to be there for others when and where it matters
◦ Connections to new and unusual experiences
 Your brand can be special because it helps us to
enjoy fluidity, rather than being overwhelmed by
it
 Other ideas?
Meaning for you?
11/23/2009 Else Consulting/themarketartist.com 7