Dearly Beloved:

We gather here today to celebrate the life of our old friend “One-to-One Marketing.” I know many of you are thinking, “Didn’t I just have a conversation about him,” or “Wasn’t he just a vital part of my marketing plan a few months ago?”

Sadly, we must realize that life as a dynamic concept in this crazy world of marketing is tenuous. One day you’re an A-List contender, then…poof! You’re flattened by a digital freight train.

How well we remember those glory years when One-to-One was marketing’s darling, seemingly a solution to every marketing problem. We couldn’t get enough of him. We raved about his ability to find and keep loyal customers, even if he could be difficult to understand or hard to integrate with any particular program.

So what happened? In a word and a number, Web 2.0. The tsunami of social media proves that the entire underlying premise of One-to-One – that marketers control the relationship with customers – is not only false, but entirely back-to-front.

The truth is we live in a Many-to-Many world where communities of consumers, millions strong, trust each other way more than any company, and make their purchase decisions based on the myriad insights and experiences of like-minded others. Brands that seek to serve them must navigate a Class-5 rapid of information, opinion and corporate antipathy, and figure out a way to communicate (participate) in the conversation in a more personal, human, responsive way – all the while adding value. Otherwise, they might just as well be talking to themselves.

Today’s challenge is still about building a relationship with customers, but on their terms and in their world. The days of the customer waiting on a brand for direction – if they ever really did – are gone. Rest in peace.