Great piece! I completely agree, but more than this, I hope this becomes an invite for planners to move away from traditional research of insights, or at least to use new - the one you suggest - way to get under the skin of a prototype customer. I think is no longer an option avoiding to investigate the 'why', because even similar profiles will have different reasons to buy the same product, in the same place at the same time. And that's why the future is more and more one-to-one conversation with consumers.

Loved this weeks ramble...and completely agree with what both you and John Le Carre are saying!FYI http://bringtheloveback.com/ is the guy who started the consumer / advertiser video viral that you posted in your post this week - his name is Geert and he actually works for Microsoft in Singapore. It's great to see his motivation behind why he produced this piece of digital video content.

lets get him to speak to us!

Insight. I like insight as foresight but seldom has this been the case for me. "Insight as hindsight" is OK for a journalist or historian, but 'the hopeful we' hope to build the future, or some part of it (with the client). Insight from the tillerman, not from an inquest...

[Need to post this, too]. The esteemed economist Robert Solow established (in the 50s) that over 80% of economic growth arose from "technical progress", not labor, capital or organisation. "Technical progress" meant innovation plus insight (in the hindsight sense, unfortunately). Doing something clever, wierd and wonderful isn't enough. The insight in this case is that the PARTICULAR innovation has a good place in the world (and other "clever ideas" don't). That kind of insight, if foresight and even a tad reliable, is tradeable, and not a simple commodity...

"Think back to the days of pre – Gutenberg printing press: little or no distribution of knowledge beyond a privileged few. Sadly the powers in charge liked it that way." That's not very fair. Before the printing press (and the important mechanisation of paper production that that came with it) producing any kind of document was an incredibly expensive and time consuming process that, beyond a few relatively mass produced texts like books of hours, only the very richest could feasibly afford. Indeed, had they wanted to, the authorities had the means to clamp down on the dissemination of printing just as the Chinese had done with the mechanical clock. In the event, however, they did not. Sorry, that deviates from the main theme somewhat doesn't it? oh well.

Brilliantly put David. The fact that content needs to be relevant and compelling is so paramount, especially now. The facility with which we communicate and dispatch messages demands it. It is the basis of a viral message. We mustn't ever lose sight of the fact that to be viral is not up to us or the advertisers. After all "viral" is just another word for "a good idea". Your ramble reminds me of the video I wrote for the Nortel pitch, so maybe I'm biased. cheers

whoops -- I will keep politics out -- but a close reading of history before and after does suggest that keeping "books" out of the hands of the people is a tactic... as for Maththew -- I knew I got the idea somewhere....

Where does interactive storytelling come in? MUDs, MUSHes, MMORPGs, Videogames… The whole storytelling paradigm has refined…but also shifted. There will, some day soon, be children who have never dealt with a fully passive medium like Radio or Television. I noticed the part you missed in your Beowulf parable: http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/15062/Beowulf-the-Game-Ray-Winstone-Behind-the-Scenes-Video/ It is distinctly possible that the only encounter a child/youth has with the epic tale of Beowulf is this videogame...not the story, or the language…but “physically” picking up a sword and descending into the depths of the Earth…. Neal Stephenson brings up an interesting paradigm in The Diamond Age. A bunch of “ractors” (Interactive actors) all meet up in a virtual setting and play their roles, bringing their own character and style to the “ractive.” Storytelling by participation. Ad Lib…live television…but anyone can participate. The seeds of this can be found in current MUSHes and MMORPGs…when it becomes fully immersive, will the story remain the same? Was Romeo and Juliet at the Globe the same as West Side Story on the screen? Will it be the same when you’re playing a Jet or a Shark…? The medium modifies the message. The message does not exist in a vacuum. Perhaps you don't need to "predict" the content...but you can safely assume that it won't be the same content tomorrow. You need to care about the device...because it affects your message and how you tell the story.

There certainly are a lot more stories out there, via more delivery channels and often more slick. But not as much time to take them in. How to choose... Tom.

There are elements of social computing-based marketing that are just silly trends. But, overall we know that it's really bringing the century's old marketplace to the digital space. The Cluetrain Manifesto laid this all out more than 10 years ago. Anyone working in marketing these days should give that book a read, or re-read. It really illustrates how the social space is just a true manifestation of the traditional marketplace. Hard to call something that's been around for a millennium "trendy." It's only the technology that's changed.

I guess marketplaces are the same since goods were first traded (and maybe watering holes since water was first drunk, and airport waiting lounges since flights were first delayed). But marketplaces have grown enormously, and the consumers have changed. Have the sellers changed? They still compete, fairly and unfairly. They still communicate with the consumers, honestly and shadily. Nowadays it seems to consumers can inform each other much more readily.

To the point -- I think the question is if the application is trendy -- clearly the behavior is as old as humankind. Bringing it to the digital space is a natural evolution

Agreed! The problem seems to be that we all forget about how people really interact whenever we try to move onto the digital space!

How about this -- People are the real medium or channel -- this thought courtesy of Gurval Caer teh CEO of Blast Radius -- plan your next campaign with that thought and see where it goes...