It’s been a slow build since the authors of the Cluetrain Manifesto told us in 1999 that ‘markets are conversations” and that ‘thanks to the web, markets are becoming better informed, smarter and more demanding of qualities missing from most business organizations.” A tech bubble, a tech bust, a resurgent web 2.0 and a global economic crisis later, we are starting to see companies internalize the vision and promise of social media that the Cluetrain conductors outlined a decade ago. An example:

A recent article in Adage featuring Simon Clift, CMO of Unilever and minder of one of the largest marketing budgets on the planet, highlights the keyote speech Clift delivered at Adage’s annual digital conference. The article is well worth the read.

In his speech Clift covers everything from consumer activism to the oxymoronic ‘corporate consience’ and declares that many companies who don’t adapt ‘simply won’t survive this accelerated natural selection.”

Adage concludes the article with a list of new rules for marketing which include ‘Listening is more important than talking’ and ‘PR and Marketing are now the same thing.”

Sure, we’ve heard it all before but marketers are no different than consumers. We tend to wait until the groundswell has shifted us from our comfortable position before we act. Once the big companies adopt new behaviours it’s no longer a trend. It’s the new reality.