Participation Rules

In the traditional command-and-control school of marketing, references to war are widespread.  Campaigning, targeting, collateral and shots are all part of marketeers' efforts to bombard groups of consumers until a few of them are 'acquired'.  Another battlefield term is 'engagement' which sounds friendly but has more to do with Rules of Engagement than wedding rings.  But while many old generals cling to their empires, modern marketeers know that everything has changed.  Consumers (aka people) are hiding behind the impregnable defences of PVRs, adblockers, subscriptions and their own media.  So these days its the Rules of Participation that are critical.  The difference...

...can sound subtle but it's a big shift of mindset.  Today's environment looks more like a party than the Somme and brands only get past the doorman if they act right.  For a great example of differing RoPs, check out Danah's latest essay (via mashable) about how Friendster got the RoP wrong while MySpace got it right:  "Opera attendance is a form of cultural capital - limitations are economic and social. Rave attendance is the opposite. Anyone can get in - in theory." 

Comments

[Antony Mayfield]

James, that's brilliant. Cheers... Out with the military language - close ally (;-)) of corporate babble and the wooden tongue...

[Daria]

Aren't the new social media like opera then, as they are creating the new elite, who has access and can generate content. While TV is just a rave party for masses...hmm or the way ? :-)

[Mike Smock]

Hello James,

As a proud practioner of "traditional" command and control marketing I am damn delighted to see the trends on the "General's" chart heading up. If you new marketing pukes would stop partying and start competing you might see results like this too.

In all serious, I'm still waiting for you to provide some solid case studies of how your new marketing "partying" leads to genuine competitive advantage.