It is not by accident that people refer to the internet as a disruptive technology. Especially in marketing.

In the 20th century marketing model, fundamental assumptions about one-to-many broadcast media and a "campaign view of the world" reigned supreme. And the economics of the media and advertising industry conformed accordingly.

However, what if we turned some of the assumptions upside down:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3qltEtl7H8&hl=en&fs=1&]

- Let's assume that broadcast media channels become fragmented against a backdrop of persistently rising internet usage

- Let's make the consumer active rather than passive (via a social internet experience)

- Let's assume that people do not trust brands any more but rather "people like themselves"

- Let's assume that "the brand" lives in the mind of brand consumers and is as much about the customer experience (especially customer service) as it is about agency creative...

Now for readers of this blog, I imagine that these "assumptions" will not be far fetched and may even be recognised as facts.

However, the media and advertising industries are still catching up. Very slowly in many cases.

In our area of focus - building and managing online communities for brands - one of the most notable manifestations of this catch-up is "The Campaign". Even where agencies acknowledge the importance of  online engagement - it will almost always be framed in the form of a campaign. Often very creative and impactful - but a campaign nonetheless.

What is missed here is that these campaigns are often building up significant brand equity - the levels of online engagement achieved through a campaign are an asset. So when you ask, what happened after the highly successful award-winning social media campaign? The pregnant pause says it all...

From our experience, the nature of online engagement for strong and aspiring brands should be lead by the customer relationship and supported by the campaign. This implies continuous engagement (hey that's an idea - a real relationship...) that is supported by and integrated with social media campaigns. It also means a more nurturing approach by the brand (seeding, weeding and feeding) - or for those athletically inclined, more the marathon of customer service than the sprint of a marketing campaign.

And unfortunately for the brand, the client-agency relationship tends to be hard-wired. Even if the agency recognises the asset - the campaign nature of the relationship limits the options and the necessary (IT, Consulting) skills that the agency would need to develop.

This is what is meant by the disruptive nature of the internet.