Open Source Marketing: Is it for real?

Yesterday I was contacted by a major advertising  journal for my thoughts on the rise in Open Source Marketing. In case this term is new to you it means the development of products or promotional  efforts that are created or co-created by vast numbers of consumers themselves.

The Linux computer operating system is the classic example of a product that is being developed using not only consumer input, but direct consumer action. Mozilla's Firefox web browser is another example of a product physically constructed (or "manufactured") by consumers - so successful it has now been downloaded over 20 million times.

On the promotional front, Open Source Marketing is even more noticeable. Companies like Volkswagen, Nike and Apple are all turning over a select group of reins to consumers of their products. And what better way to develop a grass roots marketing campaign that looks the way the audience wants it to and says the things that are most important to it?

By its nature, Open Source Marketing  is challenging the very foundation of the advertiser/client model. More and more companies will rely less and less on the traditional top-down, broadcast nature of agencies and instead turn to more networked, dialogued marketing efforts. Whether or not agencies adapt to this turn in the market remains to be seen.

From the Open Sauce Live website, here is a listing of thoughts from some of the US's largest company's CEO's who are starting to take notice of this paradigm shift in marketing:

The traditional marketing model we all grew up with is obsolete," James R. Stengel, CMO, P&G

"Mass marketing no longer works. It's the end of brand positioning as we know it”.  Larry Light, CMO, McDonalds

“To me, the challenge is not awareness, the challenge is engagement," John Hayes, CMO, American Express

"JWT client Ford now spends only 30%-40% of its ad budget on traditional advertising, compared with as much as 80% five years ago."  Bob Jeffrey, CEO, JWT

"The less control a company has over its marketing message, the greater its credibility" Economist 31.5.05

"What I worry about much more is our ability to make the necessary cultural changes to meet the new demands of the digital native." Rupert Murdoch, 14.4.05

To learn more Open Source Marketing, visit the following sites:
Collaborate Marketing
Open Sauce Live
WebProNews on Open Source Marketing

It seems to me this is a train quickly gaining steam. What do you think? Am I making a mountain out of a molehill?