New marketing models inspired by open-source software

There are at least 5 new models that have emerged, phoenix-like, from the chaos soup that is swirling about on Madison Avenue and other places where white men* worry about the money they are making on advertising:

• Active Listening
  Using blogs, wikis, and customer forums to facilitate customer as they interact with each other; listening as customers talk to collect valuable insight and then using that insight to drive fundamental changes in product or marketing strategy
• Community Building
  Integrating your marketing campaign into existing social networks or creating your own proprietary social network to build a network of shared purpose around your product or service
• Crowd Sourcing
  Relying on customers to contribute content, support other customers, even determine the right pricing for your products or services
• Engagement Marketing
  Increasing switching costs by rewarding customers for engaging directly with the brand and your marketing campaigns
• Mass Customization
  Offering unfinished or partially finished products or services that end users or channel partners can then combine; the resulting products or services are often highly customized

*OK, OK. They’re not all white men … there are a handful of women and people of color managing advertising agencies these days. But the stereotype persists … even as the majority of agencies have long since left Madison Avenue for Chelsea and other digs downtown.