Think about the marketing landscape prior to the web.  In the simplest terms, marketing was delivered through experiences that demanded little of the consumer and were focused on developing awareness:  billboards, print ads, television, radio.  The experience left the consumer having to “fill in the blanks,” what Marshall McLuhan may have called a “cool” media experience.  The consumer absorbs the message (if you’re lucky), the consumer translates the message to value, then decides if the value satisfies a need in their life.  In effect, the marketer’s reach ended at the message, and could extend no more.

With the introduction of the web, companies started to create an environment that was more immersive, and hand-held the customer through Awareness generating activities and, if done well, into Engagement, Leads, Sales and other dimensions of the sales funnel.  The customer had more opportunities to interact; systems had more opportunities to learn about customer behavior; and messaging became more sophisticated and effective.  Look at the web site of any major car manufacturer today.  The types of experiences they create are far more immersive than they were 15 years ago.  Or, look at Amazon.com’s recommendation engine.  All brilliant ways to extend the reach of the message, create “hotter” media experiences and create broader marketing reach.

So, how was this not innovative?  Because, after all this, it still revolved primarily around a one-way communication with the consumer.  As with previous advertising and marketing tactics, the strategies and systems behind the experiences were optimized to push a message more effectively. In other words, this was direct response marketing.  It just found a more interactive space to play in.

What is going on today in Web 2.0 will be far more disruptive than what’s happened over the past decade plus.  As the balance of power in product and brand messaging shifts to the consumer, organizations will need to adapt to the new needs of the channel, as well as to the heightened expectations of the consumer.   Consumers will be crafting brand and product messaging through reviews and amplifying sentiment through their social graphs.  Pushed marketing will wane in effectiveness as their message gets diluted in a sea of consumer generated content.  Enterprises which have built both their success and organizations upon direct response models will feel the sharp sting of under-producing campaigns and inefficient marketing spends.  In order to survive, and capitalize on opportunities in the social space, they will need to initiate significant organizational change, with the relationship at the center of all activity.

Now that is innovative.