If a monument was constructed to celebrate the early 21st century, it should depict the assertive consumer. Today’s consumers have gone from passive to empowered. Whereas companies used to control brands, today that power increasingly lies with the public. Although a social media campaign has yet to destroy a major brand, controlling that brand perception is much harder. In the past, a major soft drinks company may gain ground with a nice ad that tells us, ‘We are the world’. Today, it does so by offering near-personalised cans with names on them and encouraging us all to #ShareaCoke, a campaign that grew its sales by two percent.

Meanwhile, traditional advertising suffers under the yoke of excessive costs and a fracturing audience. TV, radio and print are seeing their fortunes eroded by streaming video, podcasts and aggregated digital content. Yet at the same time, new marketing platforms don’t quite bring the same punch to the table. A well-timed Nando’s ad still strikes the hot iron when it goes out on broadcast channels to satirise a recent headline. Digital media then steps in to give it legs. As much as the death of old marketing has been heralded, it’s simply not true. Instead, the real change is the enormous power consumers are beginning to wield. As marketing guru Clark Kokich told Forbes, customers now want an experience with their favoured brand.