What does technology teach us about how to market brands?

The answer is a way of engaging, not a means of engaging. The digital revolution in brand marketing is generally approached as an issue of platforms, but it is much more. Technology doesn’t just give people a new way of doing things; it gives people a new way of thinking. The biggest impact of technology is the change it creates in people’s perceptions. Certainly, technology expands access, speed and productivity, but technology has much more far-reaching effects. The digital revolution is changing how people conceptualize the possibilities available to them in their lives.

Absent digital technologies, it would never occur to someone that marketers could be engaged in dialogue, much less dialogue at the point of contact. People used to take it for granted that there was no tête-à-tête with ads. You could watch them, but you couldn’t change them or talk back to them. People no longer believe that. Even if they don’t interact with ads, they recognize that ads no longer enjoy an exclusive position on the dais.

But the presumption of dialogue created by digital technologies goes beyond the technologies themselves. Once the door has been opened in one area, people want to see it opened everywhere else as well. People now want the same freedom of engagement in every aspect of their lives. Every point of contact carries the same expectations. People now want it at retail, in customer service, for promotions, with media content, and so forth. People have learned a new capacity from digital technologies and they want to exercise it everywhere, even in low-tech points of contact.

Beyond dialogue, there are three other expectations that have been intensified by digital technologies. Portability is one. People can carry knowledge and connections with them. People are weaning themselves from place-based