Conversation is (inter-)action

  • Jon Lund 

What is dialogue and conversation? And: Do the parties involved in the dialogue have to say or write statements to one another?

The answer to the question is- in my opinion – “no”.

When a user himself refurnish his msn messenger the way that suddenly Mickey Mouse appears in the midst of a big heart (by downloading a socalled “wink”) he responds to an opportunity given to him by Microsoft. The user probably doesn’t think of this as if his was having a dialogue with Microsoft – but I’d say he actually is.

In the same sense: When a user views a streaming videospot on the web (of, lets say, the need to be wellprotected when dealing with computers or how to creatively unlock otherwise unbreakable barrieres), copies the URLs the url of the spot to an email and send the email to his friend, I’d say he is engaging in a conversation about the subject or contexts of the films – i.e. Bullgards antivirus or Kryptonite locks.

It was in this sense of conversation and dialogue I embarked the other day when I proposed a new marketing paradigm – the socalled “WE AIM-paradigm” – and wrote that

marketers today are confronted with vast opportunities of resources only waiting to be awoken in consumers. Opportunities marketers can take advantage of, by entering the new sphere of market-“conversations”. Conversations – or dialogue – in the true sense of the word, where both parties are allowed to unfold and expressing themselves.

Why am I making this clarification? Because Adriana Cronin-Lukas seems to have gotten my use of the conversation-word wrong (though she ironically was the one that inspired me in my use of the term). “Sounds good” she replies in this post. “But why on earth” she continues

would I want to interact with marketers?! If anything, I’d like to interact with the guy who know something about cars or makes wine or beautiful jewellery. So give people a story and a reason to interact with marketers and they just might. Or not. 🙂

Quite so, Adriana. Those are the people I’d like to talk to, too. Not the “marketer” with the jerky arguments himself.
But nevertheless I actually might want to interact, to “talk” to and interact with the content, the features and the services that very same marketer kindly might put to my disposal.