Why companies are from Mars and Customers are from Venus

Tomi and I are currently researching our next book, that is going to go deeper into some of the insights and theories we have developed in Communities Dominate Brands.

The Digital Error

I really like this thought – that its not about technology at all, but rather that our recent past - vis a vis new technologies, reveals something deeper about ourselves. This is supported I believe by some interesting research.

Below is a quote from Soshana Zuboff referencing a key piece of research about how we have have evolved into people that are seeking psychological self-determination. Something we also mention in our book based upon our own research.

These individuals are seeking new consumption choices that can redefine commerce. The new individuals want to make a difference, they want to be heard, and each wants to matter. Their new political choices begin with an apparent dilemma for leaders. The new individuals are educated (and increasingly more so) opinionated, rights claiming and keen to act. They have concepts, ideals, and information. All of these characteristics ought to make them avid participants in the political process, but despite these credentials, the political participation of the “postmaterialists” is, by conventional measures, lower than of the modern generation.

In contrast, the values surveys of Ronald Inglehart indicate that the new postmaterialists demand true voice. Theirs is a psychological reformation that suggests some interesting parallels to the religious reformation of the sixteenth century. Today’s individual rejects organisational mediation seeking instead to have a direct impact upon matters that touch his or her life.

They shun traditional organisations in favour of unmediated relationship to the things they care about. The new individuals thus demand a high quality of direct participation and influence. They have skills to lead, confer and discuss, and they are not content to be good foot soldiers.

Young adults place a premium on the efficacy of small groups of people working together to effect change in tangible ways. And they showed strong preference for leadership “that emphasises the collective participation of many individuals over the strong leadership of the few.”

This rejection of mediated influence also helps explain the growing interest in the concept of “direct democracy” as a natural evolution of representative democracy.

The new individuals seek true voice; direct participation, unmediated influence and identity based community because they are comfortable using their own experience as a basis for making judgements.

Such insights are supported by the Guardian/ICM survey showing that 31% of all 14-21 year olds have their own blog or website.

Companies are from Mars, Customers are from Venus
Clearly, if one accepts such an insight, it means that how brands engage with their customers has to evolve into something other altogether more enabling, supportive, valuable.

But its not just the marketing side of the equation, as we write in our book, that is evolving - so too are the old structures of business that cannot support these new postmaterialists.

So the notion that producers produce and consumers consume is today fast becoming an oxymoron.

Business models are ripe for innovation, and the new society of individuals and communities are seeking a very different model of consumption.