The customer is dead, long live the co-owner
The attributes we use to refer to others are important, because they define our relationship with them.
When brands talk about consumers, they mean individuals that use products and/or services. A customer is an actual or future buyer of these products and/or services. The implicit meaning is that the customer wants something that the brand has, i.e. the customer wants the brand's product more than the brand wants the customer's money. That is the wrong attitude. In today's world, customers are more than anonymous, voiceless paying subjects, they are brand ambassadors, brand designers, consultants, colleagues and partners. They can help you make better products, they can enhance your brand image and they can help you find new…..partners. And they can also do the opposite. They have effectively become co-owners! I often hear brands saying 'the customer is king'. Unfortunately most brands still mean it in the way that Cardinal Richelieu most probably defined Louis XIII: a manipulated puppet. Politics realized a while ago that democracy is the better form of government. It's about time brands became more 'democratic' as well. Including all co-owners in the architecture of value creation will ensure a better product and an enhanced experience for everybody involved.