En 1999 se lanzaba el Cluetrain Manifiesto, un listado de 95 afirmaciones que pretendÃa modificar el modo de hacer negocios. Su primer punto era toda una declaración de intenciones: âLos mercados son conversacionesâ?. Hoy las marcas parece que son conscientes de este fenómeno (Web 2.0, Branding 2.0, Empresas 2.0…) y crean comunidades de marca compuestas por personas con un fuerte sentido de pertenencia. No es una tendencia nueva: Lonely Planet o Red Bull hace años que disfrutan de esta fortaleza.
Es el punto de vista que comparten Alan Moore (CEO de SMLXL) y Tomi T Ahonen (gurú y experto de Oxford en tecnologÃa y convergencia). Más información, aquÃ.
En su opinión, según la plasman en el libro Communities Dominate Brands, es necesario analizar âhow disruptive effects of digitalisation and connectedness introduce threats and opportunitiesâ?. La clave es percibir cómo los consumidores actuales forman comunidades âto pool their power resulting in a dramatic revolution of how businesses interact with their customersâ?. Los anuncios, dicen, son una realidad obsoleta, el futuro es son, en parte, âblogging, virtual environments, mobile phone based swarming and massively multiplayer gamesâ?.
En definitiva, âCommunities Dominate Brands arrives to its conclusion, that traditional marketing methods are increasingly ineffective and even becoming counterproductive. The power of the brands and the abuses by marketing have created a vacuum for a counterbalance, and digitally connected communities, the blogosphere, gamers, and especially the always-on connectedness of those on mobile phone networks, are emerging as the counterforce to redress the balance. The power of smart mobs and digitally enlightened communities will react rapidly to marketing excesses as the natural force balancing the power of the brands. The way a business can and must interact with the powerful new communities is through engagement marketing, by enticing the communities to interact with the brandsâ?.
Estamos pues ante un consumidor de nuevo cuño: que definen como âGeneration-C for Community, the population that is always in contact with friends and colleagues and trust them more than your branded messagesâ?.
