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How best to describe the times we’re living through?

As always, the answer depends and their effects will definitely
on your perspective. There is be unpredictable and possibly
more than enough happening unimaginably far-reaching. The
in the world to fuel a fearful and Chinese used to curse people
pessimistic outlook, whilst those of by saying they hoped they would
a more optimistic bent will need live through interesting times.
little encouragement to wax lyrical Well, our times are certainly that.
about the unprecedented new When it comes to capturing the

Taking
uncertainty for
granted
opportunities opening up before
us. What you will struggle to find,
sheer intensity of the changes we
are living through, however, The
however, are those who continue Interesting Age lacks a certain
to insist that it’s business as usual. oomph. To capture that unique
blend of fear and excitement,
This is probably the most telling
of bewilderment and complexity,
characteristic of our times; whether
of opportunity and threat, of
we identify with the gloomiest
intensity and unpredictability, only
doomsayers or the most starry-eyed
The Crazy Age will do.
visionaries, we agree unanimously
on one central idea – everything Welcome, then, to The Crazy Age
is changing. We are also in – where the only thing we can be
agreement about the nature of certain of is uncertainty and the
these changes – that they are only thing we can be sure of is that
happening, that they are irreversible everything is about to change.
Ch-ch-ch-
changes
Change in The Crazy Age is utterly
pervasive and astonishingly varied.
Raise the subject with people and
the sheer diversity of responses
you will hear is astounding. They
will range over topics as diverse
as the credit crunch and melting
polar ice caps, the rise of Google
and the demise of General
Motors, The X-Factor and TED,
religious fundamentalism and
genetic engineering, iPhones and
Barack Obama.
ID E G O RR
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Those with an eye for politics might
mention the rise of China or the
coalition of our new government;
music fans will talk about the
collapse of the record industry,
the ascendance of iTunes and
the ethics of illegal downloading;
social media evangelists will insist
the old world of fixed, top-down
communication is being rendered
irrelevant in the face of relentless
communication between global
communities of customers; the
environmentalist brigade will
keep you up all night worrying;
technology buffs and the twittering
classes will just keep you up all night.
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This last group will have a lot to tell us,

because technology is the driving force
behind a lot of these changes. In fact,
it is in the technological arena that we
Some of these may strike
experience the effects of change most
you as more significant than
immediately and powerfully. Technology
others. No matter. What is
embodies all the main characteristics of
truly striking about this list is
change in The Crazy Age – its radical
the incredible shrinking of
unpredictability, its paradigm-shifting
time between genuinely
effects and its ever-accelerating intensity.
significant events – from
Consider the following events – the thousands of years to a few
evolution of language, the invention thousand days. Far from

Honey,
of writing, the invention of the printing reaching some kind of peak

I shrunk
time
press, the development of the personal
computer, the emergence of the
internet, the arrival of the worldwide
web, the rise of Google, the launch
of Facebook, the moment when or “End Of History” as was
Facebook overtook Google as the most being prophesied so glibly
popular destination for US web traffic. only twenty years ago, the
pace of change is actually
accelerating. Change has
gone beyond being an
inevitability – change has
become the norm.
 In particular, it creates opportunities
for those who would previously
have been hopelessly outgunned
Where does this maelstrom of by much larger and more powerful
change leave those operating in the rivals. New markets can be
worlds of business, marketing and created much more quickly and
communications? Again, it depends new communities of customers
on how you choose to navigate can be energised by new ideas
the storm. For those who have almost overnight. Whilst it’s true
enjoyed previously unassailable that fresh ideas and great word of
positions of dominance, the winds mouth have always characterised
of change can be chilling – with successful new businesses, what’s
those who resist or ignore them unique now is the extent to which
in grave danger of being swept technological advances make it
away. But – in yet another paradox not only possible to quantify these
of The Crazy Age – this relentless assets, it can enable them to be
process of change creates as amplified to the point where they

Onethreat is
much opportunity as it does threat. can overturn entire categories.

person’s

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opportunity
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Gorillas vs.
Guerillas
This unprecedented state of affairs
creates a new paradigm for
business communications, where
constant innovation and customer
engagement has become more
than a canny strategy for ambitious,
upwardly mobile companies - it has
become an absolute necessity
for survival.
A relatively stable and predictable
world where market leaders enjoyed
e c o n o m i e s - o f- s c a l e - d e r i v e d
dominance over smaller, copycat
rivals is giving way to a more
unpredictable environment where
dominant market “gorillas” are
increasingly vulnerable to the
guerrilla strategies of nimbler,
more creative opponents.
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As they have sought to exploit the

vulnerabilities of market leaders,
these maverick competitors have
evolved a series of distinctive
styles, methods and approaches.
Recognisable techniques include
trailblazing product redefinitions
or innovations (e.g. Apple) radical
improvements in customer service
(First Direct); creating radically new
That the gorillas themselves are
adopting the same approaches
to either defend their territory or
enter new markets themselves
(Project Natal, Bing) might be
ironic, but it is also testament to
their efficacy.

Spotting the
mavericks
levels of audience participation
and community empowerment
(reality TV, Barack Obama’s
election campaign) all-out assaults
on the credibility and integrity of
the market leader (Virgin vs. BA,
Ryanair) influencing or trading
on customers’ social, ethical and
political attitudes (The Body Shop,
Fairtrade, Innocent, The Co-op)
or opening up entirely new
markets for products (Nintendo Wii,
Apple iPad).
And whilst some of these strategies
are hardly new, what is new is the
extent to which their effects can
be amplified via word-of-mouth
on the internet and within social
networks into forces which can
overturn market conventions and
reconfigure customers’ ideas
and expectations, in the process
putting much larger and better-
resourced opponents on the
back foot – and sometimes even
flat on their backs.
Let’s go
Hunter S. Thompson wrote “When the
going gets weird, the weird turn pro”
All of these approaches fly in the
face of conventional marketing
– a prophetic line that rings truer thinking, yet their success reveals
than ever in The Crazy Age. Crazy that this unconventionality is in fact
is the new black; success in this world their greatest strength. By taking a
is no longer about shying away crazier route than their rivals, they
from the bizarre, the unpredictable have succeeded in outwitting
and the wildly unconventional, them and carving out unique and
but about embracing it and distinctive territories for themselves.
actively seeking it out. Everywhere
In The Crazy Age, this may ultimately
we look, we see crazy thinking re-
be the only sane thing to do - to buck
energising previously mainstream,
convention, to defy expectation,
conventional brands. Guinness
to be predictably unpredictable.
make a virtue out of the fact
To stop asking ourselves if we’re
their pints take an age to settle,
being crazy and ask ourselves if
Marmite celebrates the fact that
we’re being crazy enough.
many people hate it and Yorkie
Are you?
thrive in the chocolate market by

crazy
telling us their product is not for girls.

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