whatever you think about the future of business...

whatever you think your brand means to the masses...

whatever your strategy is for marketing to youth...

one thing is certain...

we are in the midst of a major shift...

In some ways it's like we're back in the 1600s when everybody was racing to discover the new world...

google is the french...

twitter is the spaniards...

facebook is the english...

microsoft is the dutch...

freakin' apple is the portuguese...

the ocean is the internet and computers and software are the ships...

and they are all sailing to find and conquer new land...

the shift is happening everywhere...

in politics all over the world...

in the corporate realm...

in entertainment...

in manufacturing...

businesses and brands have to ask:

why is it happening???

what caused it to happen???

if you don't ask you won't be able to stay relevant when the energy of change is finished...

New times call for new thinking...

looking to the past is no way to secure a future...

look at the movies:

there's a new "planet of the apes," a remake of "conan the barbarian...

while on TV, there's a new "charlie's angels," and a new "hawaii five-0"...

it's as if we aren't imagining anymore...

where have all the creative minds vanished to...

or...

who stop investing in the dreamers???

the music industry is still selling plastic discs...

also known as albums when today's music fans buy or listen to songs on the net or streaming to their phones...

today is all about accessing the physical representation of collective consciousness.

before...

collective consciousness was a concept...

now...

it's on your smartphone and it's called twitter...

twitter is a physical representation of collective consciousness where you can tap into the consciousness of millions...

you don't have to guess what's on the minds of people today...

people are connected...

to stay relevant, you or your business or your brand need to be part of the connection...

you need to be part of the conversation...

or start conversations...

you need to invent, or amplify culture...

brands need to listen to the community...

think about all the businesses that are prospering and the ones that are suffering...

many that are suffering rely on TV commercials and haven't figured out a new way to sell their products...

the ones that are prospering don't have commercials but still succeed.

when's the last time you saw a facebook commercial???

when's the last time you saw a zynga commercial???

when's the last time you saw a twitter commercial???

or one from any of the growing businesses that bring community together???

there is a whole new concept of brands and businesses that bring community together...

you don't have to go about the traditional way of marketing and advertising...

today, you need to turn a moment into momentum and momentum into a movement...

that can't be done with 30-second commercials...

you need to create conversations with your customers...

so I say, MAKE CONVERSATIONS NOT ADS...

In 2011 you can't be doing business like it's 1991 or even 2001 if you're trying to find your customers....

especially the youth market...

what caught you yesterday is not going to catch them today or tomorrow...

yesterday's practices won't solve today or tomorrow's problems....

it used to be that businesses went where the money is ...

today...

to have a business...

you need to go where the people are...

people have the power to kill brands or make them a success...

i think we need to go from marketing to COMMUNITING...

we have marketed so much that we have killed communities...

we have marketed so much that we have harmed our customer...

we need to conduct business in a manner that enables and sustains communities...

COMMUNITING is about COMMUNICATION between people and companies that enables or sustains a COMMUNITY...

in the intersection of people and company's in a conversation is where COMMERCE is found.

COMMUNITING will be the new standard:

If your ad, marketing plan or communication doesn't increase, rebuild, enable or empower community, then don't do it.