On my visit to MIT MediaLab, John Maeda, the professor who organised the event I spoke to, kindly gave
me an advance of his new book, called The Laws of Simplicity. The book is a gentle reminder of the need for simplicity in an age when technological advances can be overwhelming. One point the professor makes is that Openness Simplifies Complexity. I think this is a lesson that can be applied well to marketing. We are all familiar with complex brand architectures that employ equally tricksy processes designed to deliver them to the public as perfect objects. However, in networked environments, it seems, people enjoy taking simple things and adding the complexity themselves...
... - often in very playful or socialable ways. (Or objects of sociality as Jyri explains). For modern marketeers, the idea that today's world is less about making perfect, tightly controlled packages and more about offering things that people can tinker, adjust and fiddle with can be very refreshing.
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