How to market brands in a people economy

Tim Stock
scenarioDNA 
Marie Lena Tupot
scenarioDNA

Brand Marketers are in the midst of a fundamental shift in human behaviour and consumption. Getting increasingly more elusive and enabled by networked personal technology, consumers are moving from mass market to multiplying custom markets. Today's emerging demographic segments and affinities devalue traditional consumer market boxes.

Take, for example, the ubiquitous metrosexual man or the enigmatic NASCAR dad. There is an unmistakable call to embed a brand within the fabric of their culture if you wish to reach these market segments. We cannot take behaviour for granted. It is constantly evolving in response to a variety of forces that can only be understood by being right there. To function properly in context, embedded brands must demonstrate a pronounced knowledge and communication of the nuances of social context that drive attitudes and access. The challenge for brands is to rebuild the factory of innovation and break out of the conventional ways of communicating.