True innovation should probably be a bottom-up, decentralised, emergent thing, and consumers (aka people) have no greater vested interest than in their own well-being. So in the age of the empowered consumer bla bla bla it feels like there’s a bunch of potential for challengers to propagate change and innovation at the grassroots.

Challenger brands are certainly in a better position to do this than the old school institutions who chase outdated brand metrics by paying a fortune to push their advertising message in front of as many eyeballs as they can.

Allied to that is all the crap food we are convinced by the major food companies is wholesome and healthy.

Would it be coincidental if the poor diet and excercise choices are happily encouraged by the pharma/food conglomerates? Who really cares if you have a mild health condition that is perpetuated by poor diet choices when we can sell you a little pill that will control it – statins anyone?

Secondly the problem the health system faces is corrupt employees – middle management taking payroll for doing nothing, doctors fudging systems to collect extra payments or even direct cash back from industry partners or the holy grail in spine surgery in the US now where surgeons own the hospital and the implant distribution for the hospital?!

The real danger to a Challenger is that to take on the above is a huge task – everyone in the current set up has some skin in the game.

However as the public is increasingly engaged with their health and management of it that is where the opportunity lies. Mobile apps to monitor health etc are the beginning, but crowd sourcing, social media and the ever expanding amount of information available to the patient I believe will help take down this construct and deliver what healthcare should be about – better patient outcomes, not profit.

People will increasingly take control of their health, they will want the best service for the best price, unlike previous generations who would accept what the consultant tells them as gospel!

Allied to that is all the crap food we are convinced by the major food companies is wholesome and healthy.

Would it be coincidental if the poor diet and excercise choices are happily encouraged by the pharma/food conglomerates? Who really cares if you have a mild health condition that is perpetuated by poor diet choices when we can sell you a little pill that will control it – statins anyone?

Secondly the problem the health system faces is corrupt employees – middle management taking payroll for doing nothing, doctors fudging systems to collect extra payments or even direct cash back from industry

It ultimately comes down to individual choices

A sensible health care system (pretty much the opposite of the US one – which delivers about Cuba’s health status for multiples of the cost – I’m in Australia) doesn’t hurt either.

And fascinated that it is taught as a technique for actors.

It is certainly easier for retailers like Sainsbury to do this, or any other brand with regular consumer interaction – though there are still few who do it brilliantly.

But I do think there are certainly things that packaged goods companies do, without the need for it to be digital.

innocent’s packaging is a great example, as is Yorkie’s “Not for girls” and also Huggies’ approach to mothers and their children. All of these examples “spoke” to their consumers, way before digital was even an option.

For many brands I think it’s more a case of treating your consumers (small c) like Customers (big C). This isn’t an issue for Sainsbury because they sell direct to the end user. Consumers and Customers are one and the same for them.

But for packaged good brands, Sainsbury is the Customer. Customers get one to one contact, they get listened to, they get entertained. Consumers are only seen and heard a few times a year from behind a two way mirror in a focus group viewing studio.

One of the biggest impacts of digitally enabled social interactions has been to amplify the marketing impact of good customer service. Social channels allow brands to treat consumers like Customers.

It is c2C marketing (treating consumers like Customers).

These interactions are more powerful than advertising at an individual level. The strategic challenge is how to achieve broadcast scale.