Jeff Jarvis spells out the endgame for the ad industry in his column in the Guardian today. Right in the middle of it he points to the changed relationship between the providers of the world and their consumers, in this case Dell and their customers.

There it is: the fist. Dell and its customers are collaborating on the
creation of content, media and marketing - without content, media or
marketing companies. Advertising is no one’s first choice as the basis
of a relationship. For marketers, it’s expensive and inefficient. For
customers, it’s invasive and annoying. And targeted advertising is only
slightly more efficient and slightly less annoying. Clearly, the direct
relationship between a customer and a company is preferable. But that
direct connection cuts out the middlemen - that is the media.

Too few companies, whether they be electrical goods, service providers or content creaters  are getting this. Guys, if you can engage a constant dialogue you don’t need as much of that eight figure ad budget as you think.

And when it comes to media companies this should be even more obvious. The act of providing the content can be the conversation itself.

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