CATEGORY

Once upon a time, marketers barraged customers with hard-sell tactics. Today, consumers use products to define themselves and others. People are swayed not by corporate-generated hype, but by consumer-generated buzz. That means companies must shift their focus away from marketing to people and toward marketing with them. In "consumerspace," firms partner with customers to develop brand personalities and create interactive fantasies. The winners understand that we buy products not just because of what they do, but because of what they mean. Market share is out; share of mind is in.

Conquering Consumerspace reveals the accelerating blurring of traditional boundaries between branded commodities and everyday life. Solomon's timely book presents a new way of looking at customers: recognizing them as partners in an ongoing marketing transaction rather than as passive pawns at the receiving end of a sales pitch. Conquering Consumerspace also defines the place of customer feedback in product conception, design, and production, and why customizability is no longer a luxury option but a requirement.

From online "buzz communities" to theme stores and product placement to guerrilla marketing, what we consume is inextricably woven into our daily life experience, creating both challenges and opportunities for companies to accelerate and deepen their customers' relationships with their products, services, and brands.