I loved my early childhood on Grandma Evans' farm. My world, though it seemed large was really quite small. Most everything we needed was obtained 'locally'. Places more than 5 or ten miles away seemed distant to me.
Occasionally, 'travellers' came by the farm with things that weren't available locally. They were regarded carefully until a relationship was 'proved up'. But as a kid, I always thought it was exciting when the Fullerbrush or Rawleigh's man came round. Not because of the products they brought, but because they often stayed for a meal and told exciting stories from their travels. On these occasions, I learned about a world that lay over the horizon. One that I would eventually explore as a marketer and 'traveller' myself.
When our Fullerbrush man retired, he brought around a replacement for us all to meet. At the time, I didn't realize that he was doing something very important - passing to the 'new traveller' a relationship he had earned over years of service to Grandma and our family.
We all know that relationships are the core of brand trust. Perhaps you wonder if the internet is spoiling the deeper relationships you count on for brand success. In an earlier blog, I proposed that we need to establish conversations with those who 'serve' our brands to a network of trusted friends. As the barriers to social interaction come down, the 'digital maven' deserves our attention.
Stefana Broadbent is an ethnographer who studies the way our social habits and relationships function and mutate in the digital age. I think you will find her 2009 TED talk useful in understanding how digital is opening up the network of people we communicate with and why it is breaking down barriers to social interaction that were erected over the past 150 years.
Please feel free to share the examples from your experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment