Conscious consumption requires a different approach to marketing

Bangkok, Thailand
Social | Bangkok, Thailand | Aug 2005

Albert Wenger at USV:

There are good reasons to believe that structural change to smaller units and individuals will continue and offers opportunities for new marketplaces.

Marketplaces as organizations; exchanges instead of firms.

In the near future, advertising will no longer be the default revenue model for web startups. To start:

  • We will have realized that interruption-based “messaging” (e.g. corporate spam) is something nobody wants in our social networks, in our communication services, in our products and services, in our information sharing, in our transactions of value. We’ll be sharing too much value, too easily, too widely, too targeted: the transaction costs of advertising will simply be too high compared to other ways of extracting revenue from value creation.
  • The interest will be in conscious consumption instead of conspicuous consumption. Attempting to convince consumers to “buy, use and discard more” simply won’t be good business strategy. Conscious consumption requires a different approach to influencing people’s decisions; existing traditional advertising is a square peg for that hole.



Obscured

Night, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, USA
Obscured | Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, USA | Nov 2005

Unrelated: Coined in Japan, the term “tomason” describes “useless, abandoned” architectural artifacts, leftovers from “the incessant churn of building, destruction, and redevelopment that characterizes the Japanese city.” via City of Sound

What tomason exist in your city, your environment, your life?

(also: examples of tomason on Flickr)




Exformation

Office Workspace, USA
Hidden | Office Workspace, USA | Aug 2008

Effective communication depends on a shared body of knowledge between the persons communicating. In using words, sounds and gestures the speaker has deliberately thrown away a huge body of information, though it remains implied. This shared context is called exformation. Exformation is everything we do not actually say but have in our heads when, or before, we say anything at all — whereas information is the measurable, demonstrable utterance we actually come out with. (link), via kottke.org

What exformation exists between you and your co-workers, your family, your friends? How are you leveraging it?




Views

West Highland Way, Scotland
West Highland Way | Scotland | Apr 2007

Meeting, Workspace
Meeting | Workspace, USA | Aug 2008

Each view has a sort of beauty, its own accomplishment, it own meaning, in its own way, I suppose, I hope…




Awake or Asleep

Awake or Asleep, Richmond, Virginia
Awake or Asleep | Richmond, Virginia, USA | Aug 2008

Someday I’ll release my work in progress “Where I Sleep” project…

Today’s thoughts:




Luray Caverns

Dream Lake, Luray Caverns, Virginia
Mirror | Dream Lake, Luray Caverns, Virginia | Aug 2008

Taken on a tour through Luray Caverns during the 130th Anniversary of Discovery and Grand Illumination celebration in Luray, Virginia.

More photos at taylordavidson.com/caverns

Today’s thought on Unstructured Thoughts:

Two other notes:




Ask me Questions: Your chance to Participate

Ooty, India, Taylor Davidson
Taylor Davidson | Ooty, Tamil Nadu, India | Jan 2008

Questions, Answered, Again

As some of you may know, back in the fall of 2006 I asked my friends to email me questions they’d like me to answer. No limits to the types of questions (although I maintained the right to select which ones I wanted to answer publicly). I responded to 15 of the questions with photos and words in my “Questions, Answered” gallery.

After a rash of purely travel projects, I’ve decided to return to and improve the idea. This is your chance to participate in my next photo project.

What will be different this time?

  • For the original Q&A, I picked through the questions submitted and chose old images to fit my answers. This time, however, I’ll be shooting new images to fit my answers.
  • Last time my responses were released on my website all at once. This time we’ll be doing it a little differently, with a little voting, a little participation, some exclusive content for people that submit questions, and a web and print combination. More on all this later. For right now, just focus on the questions.

Questions you may have about the project:

Why are you doing this?

Why not? It’s fun…

What can I ask you about?

Your choice. You can see from the original “Questions, Answered” that people asked a pretty broad range of questions. Of course, I get to choose which ones I answer.

How many questions can I submit?

Your choice. I choose which ones to answer in the end, so ask as many as you want.

Will my question be anonymous?

Yes. I won’t identify the person asking the question. If you want to be really anonymous, submit your question using the contact form and use a pseudonym… or just trust me.

How many questions will you answer?

My guess is 15 to 20, but I’m not sure: it just depends on the depth and quality of questions I receive.

I don’t know you, can I still ask a question?

Please do!

How long do I have to submit my questions?

Let’s aim for all questions to be in by Friday August 22nd.

How should I submit my questions?

Drop me a line by email, by Twitter or this contact form.

Can I still join in if I don’t want to ask a question?

Of course! Join the Facebook group and follow the website for updates (subscribe by RSS or Email if you prefer).

But it’s more fun if you ask a question…




Look

Pub, London, United Kingdom
Look | London, United Kingdom | Oct 2006

Do we pay attention to how other people look at us, or are we too busy projecting ourselves?

On a different note, Friday I am off to Raleigh, NC for BarCampRDU. Looking forward to doing a lot of listening…




Focus

Following, Ben Nevis, Scotland
Follow | Ben Nevis, Scotland | April 2007

Challenging conditions have a way of focusing our minds and cutting out the chaff of life.

Is direct marketing dead? Not hardly, but the future is different from today…

Remember, follow the photography and cultural musings here on taylordavidson.com by RSS or Email, and the business, innovation and entrepreneurship thoughts on Unstructured Thoughts by RSS or Email.




Edge

Hiking, Ben Nevis, Scotland
Edge | Ben Nevis, Scotland | Apr 2007

Withdraw from the edge, or go over?

Leap over, feet first, ready to land, with glee.