power to the people

It still amazes how the source of power has radically shifted from corporations to consumers. More and more companies are becoming increasingly consumer centric. Again this does not seem to have been possible without the Internet. Starbucks recently launched the microsite"My Starbucks Idea", where people submit their ideas for the chain and vote for other people's ideas. Some of the most interesting ones include:

1. Free Coffee on your Birthday
2. Free Wireless Internet
3. Bite size pastries
4. Coffee ice cubes
5. Shelves in the restrooms
etc. etc. etc.

Starbucks is sure to meet customer satisfaction, product development and PR efforts (along with the adoption of the new-old logo to improve their image) in a terribly simple way.

This comes to show that Advertising must embrace this consumer oriented tendency, just as corporations have done, moving past a "push strategy" to a "pull strategy", sparking people's interest, and only then offering enterntainment and information for those who are truly interested.