Andrew Fox

Should Design and Marketing be Democratised?
Bit of an open posting this one but a shift I’ve noticed increasingly in the industry and therefore something I’ve been thinking about more and more. So here’s just some random thoughts…

Should Design and Marketing be democratised?

…As a Process
The traditional agency is hierarchical – Designer, Art Director, Creative Director, Senior Creative Director plus Account Managers, developers and other non creatives etc et. What if we just gave everyone an equal chance of giving an input would the client and end user get a better outcome?

In terms of the design process, I have always been a firm believer that the more the merrier in terms of input of ideas etc. I am a designer yes, and I try to be creative and come up with the best ideas possible on my own but does this always lead to the best outcome for the end user or client? I remember learning about brain storming when I was at uni and the fact that it is important not to shun others ideas – they’re all valid!

…As a Medium
The traditional way of marketing a product or service through whichever medium be it TV, print, web etc is to create a budget and spend it on whatever the agency or company thinks is the best way of getting as much exposure for the brand as possible, and the most return or share on that. The budget is set each year which “maintains” the level of exposure to that brand. Agencies usually pitch for the work and the best direction and therefore way of spending the money to get the best return.

But what if the marketing was purely democratised? How would this work? Okay I haven’t properly thought this through but for example, people (consumers) through ever increasing mediums such as Facebook, Blogs, and other social networking sites such as Digg etc increase awareness and therefore business of brands. The way technology is moving, TV could be dead in a few years and people will be using the internet to watch TV and interact and the whole thing will become more integrated. What impact does that have on marketing as we know it today?

What I find interesting about something like Digg is that it’s the consumers true belief in the “product” that contributes to its success so its more about the quality of the product than how well its marketed. These networks have become available because there is too much crap on the internet and people want to cut it out and get to the good stuff. What if this were to happen with products and services? So marketing a product becomes less about how good the marketing is but more about how good the service is! Consumer “generated” democratic marketing?

By talking about these in both areas I’ve just realised I’ve become my own enemy and done myself out of a job!

Discussion welcome!