Reimagining Consumerism
Reimagining Consumerism
Reimagining
Consumerism For Good.
The New World Economy Is Led By Meaning and Humanistic Capitalism
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The JACR version of this paper was one of the four most quoted articles in the American Journal of Consumer Research.
Reimagining Consumerism As A Force For Good was featured in:
Welcome to The New World Economy.
In 2021, as the global paradigm was turning, I was asked by the editors of the American Journal of Consumer Research to contribute a new provocative piece on the future of consumer collectives. After a short call with the late Dr. Giana Eckhardt, the journal's editor and Professor of Marketing at King's Business School, King's College London, it became clear that the piece would go in a radically different direction. This was finally the opportunity to tell the whole story: the story of what is happening with consumers, brands, and culture, how we got here, and where we go from here to navigate a more meaningful and sustainable future for business, people, society, and the planet. The succinct version of this paper is now published in the special edition of the JACR journal, entitled New Insights on Consumption Collectives (Vol. 6, No. 4, October 2021). You can access my paper here.
Once I started writing it, I realized there was so much more to the story to tell. The state of the industry that we're in today. The shift happening in the market after COVID pushing us to awaken to our own humanity. The limits of the current brand-consumer paradigm based on desire, aspiration, and transactional relationships. The evolution of our collective psyche over the last 100 years of consumerism, individualism, and commodification of human consciousness, and how our consciousness has changed from human beings to consumers. And finally, the dual role that brands play in our lives, either profiting from exploiting our desires by leading us astray, or increasing our human well-being by acting as catalysts to advance society. The latter is the new humanistic way for brands to exist in our world if we dare to envision a new future for business rooted in humanity, sustainability, integrity, and consciousness – to create new forms of human value that benefit people and add meaningful value to our lives. You will find this full story in an exclusive study that I published, available for download below. I felt the urge to set the story straight and offer the much-needed, and largely missing, interpretations and philosophical explanations of why the current system of business, brands, and value creation is no longer working, why it's hitting its limits today, and what we can do to fix it. All of it with one sole intention: to finally move the industry conversation forward and start generating real, tangible, and measurable results for good. Here's the logical rationale as to why:
Today's business world is devoid of meaning in so many ways because it is fundamentally devoid of humanity. It is not aligned with where we are going as the human collective and is not fit for purpose. The challenge with meaning we are facing today is systemic. It is consequential as a result of how we set up the systems that organize today's society. It is a large-scale system failure. An error in judgment that does not take into account our humanity. The whole system in which we still conduct business and create value is unsustainable: ideologically, socially, economically, culturally, environmentally, and ethically.
Greed is no longer good as a foundational principle of either business or consumption. Transactions are not enough. People are not here to be consumers and serve the business needs; businesses are here to serve the needs of people. We desperately lack something larger to strive for in business to make the value that we create meaningful again. We need to learn how to produce new forms of value in business that are for human benefit, and not just to generate profit.
As we alienated people from the results of their own value creation by fragmenting and automating the production process in the name of efficiency, meaning was lost. And if it was lost on the workers' part, consumers have felt it too. We churn out products with no meaning and no soul that benefit no one – including the companies that produce them and create toxic waste as a result. The system we abide by is creating lose-lose-lose scenarios for the business itself, its customers, and the planet. That is a definition of stupidity. In the 21st century, we are evolved and educated enough to know and do better. This is not just the question of doing things in a more humane way. This is a question of good business sense and future profitability because business is, first and foremost, a social discipline. And so it needs to produce things that people want to consume. And people want to consume things that are of fundamental benefit to them and their own lives.
We have to create business with consciousness. For this to happen, we need to find a new foundational principle that unites us rather than divides us and gives us a chance to collectively create a new and better future. In other words, we need a new narrative for business driven by radically different values and human motivations than a pragmatic self-interest advocated by Milton Friedman. We need to develop a new ideological system for business rooted in our humanity and core values. We need to radically reimagine the business paradigm so that we can use the social power of brands for the greater good.
This study explores the intricate power dynamics between brands and people in the existing business paradigm and traces back the fundamental origins of our unsustainable ideology of consumerism. It also gives a glimpse into the emerging reality today that is leading us back to meaning and humanity in an effort to reclaim the fundamental essence of all value creation: our human potential. It is only when the business world aligns with where humanity is already going that we can create the future of commerce as a force for good.
Commerce can become the most potent force for positive social, cultural, political, economic, and environmental change if we harness its immense power consciously, for a higher purpose. To make this vision a reality, we must first make an evolutionary step in consciousness. When businesses become conscious of the impact of their actions and act for the collective benefit, they can become catalysts of real change in the world.
Sincerely,
Dr. Martina Olbert
Founder & CEO, Meaning Global
Dr. Martina Olbert is the Founder & Chief Economic Architect of Meaning Global, building the foundation of meaning and human values for the New Earth Economy. She is a visionary business leader, meaning architect, strategic advisor, social scientist, and a global keynote speaker represented by Chartwell Speakers in London. She is the world's primary expert on creating meaning in business, recognized by Forbes as "a preeminent authority on brand meaning", and a leading voice on Humanistic Capitalism and sustainable future-fit economics. Her focus is on how business and brands can empower a future of complete synergy between Commerce and Humanity, where business is the driver of a new, better human future. She reimagines how business can benefit humanity to maximize human sovereignty and total human flourishing. She envisions new possibilities for future innovation, value creation, and growth as we move toward Humanistic Capitalism, where aligning with our humanity is a must. She works with brand and business leaders to reimagine brands and organizations from the humanistic perspective and use the immense social power of business as a force for good – to benefit our humanity and the planet.
For speaking and booking availability, you can contact me or Toby Mossop at Chartwell Speakers. For more topics, head to Speaking.
About this study
We are standing at the precipice of a Great Change in the global business, marketing, brand, and consumer landscape, the likes of which humanity hasn't seen for the last 100 years. It is a shift toward Humanistic Capitalism, Conscious Business, and Humanized Growth.
This study offers an in-depth exploration and cultural understanding of the profound seismic shift currently happening in the global consumer landscape. A 180° fundamental paradigm shift is now manifesting in consumerism and our collective consumption patterns, driving us from brands to humanity, and from consumer collectives to a human collective. This shift pushes the industry to redefine the future of commerce: how we do business, manage brands, understand their value, and how we consume. This paper aims to help brands and organizations understand how to lead with meaning and humanity at their core to become forces for good and meaningful growth in the world.
Storyline
We are entering a new Humanistic Paradigm where the dynamic of consumerism is shifting from brands to people: from brand aspiration to human well-being. We are now experiencing a 180° paradigm shift, reversing the inner dynamic of consumerism as the locus of power between brands and consumers is moving from corporations back to humanity. This shift in relationship dynamics is at the core of the biggest and most fundamental change in the philosophy of consumerism in the last 100 years. Over the past 100 years, consumerism has produced material success, but it was at the expense of a social and spiritual failure that has weakened the notion of human freedom and democracy. After a full century of exploited desires, we are coming back to our essential human needs to guide our consumer choices in a way that benefits and directly increases our human well-being. For this, we need to develop a new level of consciousness, as individuals and as brands and organizations, to act for a larger good.
The COVID pandemic between 2020 and 2023 has served as a potent period of global awakening to elevate our collective human consciousness. Ever since, our human needs and values have been rapidly evolving in a new direction that takes us back to our humanity in a quest to retrieve the lost meaning in our lives. This newly heightened level of our collective awareness poses a challenge to brands as they now need to look for more authentic ways to connect with people and create new value that adds real meaning to their lives. As we are awakening to our higher needs and reclaiming our humanity, segmenting people into consumer collectives is no longer seen as relevant. There are no more consumer collectives. There is only one collective: the human collective. To authentically connect with people in this new Human Paradigm, brands need to shift their focus away from themselves and their purpose and focus on what people value – and that is meaning. When brands do this right, consciously and on a large scale, they can become the catalysts of real social change. They can become forces for good and for meaningful social growth.
What the industry experts say about this study:
“Martina presents a clear roadmap for how brands can ensure they are not engaging in purpose-washing, but rather authentically engage with consumers as humans. The thought leader we need for the '20s and beyond.“
Professor of Marketing, King's Business School at King's College London, and editor of this JACR paper
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To align your brand with the future of human evolution on Earth, book The Sovereign Audit. Learn what these macroeconomic shifts between brands and humanity mean for your business, its future value, and profitability to maximize human meaning.