by Geoff Pickering

The pace of change and new concepts and TLA’s (Three Letter Acronyms) is absolutely maddening. I try really hard not to adopt too many of the latest concepts until the marketplace pressure vets their stability. That being said, a few weeks ago I saw a term the other day from Leisa Reicheit that I feel passes the marketplace litmus test and should to be included in our standard marketing nomenclature moving forward.

The term, Ambient Intimacy. Defined, Ambient Intimacy is about being able to keep in contact with people with a level of regularity and intimacy that you wouldn’t usually have access to, because time and space conspire to make it possible.

Basically none of us have time to be intimate with more than five or ten people. That’s just the way our society and culture is today. However, technology is creating new cultural norms that create behaviors that expand beyond what we as marketers are experiencing for the very first time, e.g, Facebook, Twitter, iPhone, etc.

At the heart of this is the customer and today, the customer is in charge. They always have been, but today, they have real teeth. Before, we as marketers had the ability to construct messages and influence perceptions and clients could control their products in addition they felt like they had control of the message around their Brand. That just isn’t the case anymore.

Yesterday: “You can have any color car you want, as long as it’s black”

Today: “You can have any color car you want.”

I realize you’ve heard, read and been exposed to the “customer rules” posit ad-nauseum and I apologize for stating it again but it is true and needs to continue to be repeated.

We live in a world of products/services that are commodities, everything is real-time, expectations of service are high and cost low.

The ability to contain the message is over. You must find solutions that engage people and build trust.

http://www.relevantengagement.com/