mobileYouth®

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I’m often asked do youth really care about who provides their mobile phone or which airline they travel with? These are industries that have Annoyvertized consumers to relegating their relationships to commodities.

How do brands such as Red Bull and Jones Soda make their customers care about fizzy flavored soda in a can where Pepsi fails? The difference is simple – one is looking for customers for its products while the others are finding products for their customers.

As Pipelines and their agencies continue to seek answers to falling youth attention, advertising dollars and consumer trust, smart brands have already embarked on redefining their business model without waiting for their agencies – moving from the Industrial era of Pipelines to the Network era of Platforms.

Platforms like Red Bull don’t sell products they connect their customers. Red Bull isn’t about energy drinks it’s an energy lifestyle of which drinks are one component, one tool in the wider evoked set of tools available to facilitate social interaction. Where Pepsi campaigns, Red Bull builds Legacies; Red Bull drift, Red Bull Air Race, Red Bull Music Academy and Red Bull Connect are all as valid a product as the iconic can itself.

Similarly, imagine the possibilities for boring service providers in adding value to their customers’ lives once they remove the Industrial yoke. I’m not suggesting JetBlue should open a night club, Axe to sell customized T-Shirts or Vodafone to become a record label. What this is about is understanding the value that each brand adds to the lives of the customer and building around that social fabric.

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