I may not always agree with Ad Age’s opinion pieces, but I certainly like what editor in chief Rance Crain writes in his commentary, “Risk Aversion Is Risky Business For Marketers And Agencies”. From his entry (Link):

What worries me most here is that the play-it-safe attitude of the ad industry is indicative of bigger problems. U.S. companies, and the U.S. economy, have prospered because they were willing to take chances. We innovated, we challenged, and the result was perpetual renewal of our system.

The same is true for design. “Me too” products are now the norm. How many damn iPod knock-offs can people stomach? Is that really the only solution for providing a form and an interface to access mobile media or is it the path of least resistance … least risk … for companies that, as one client once told me, sell crap to consumers about whom they have no clue?

Is this what happens when American corporations dump their manufacturing operations and morph into sourcing operations headed by Marketing and Sales who do little more than fly to Hong Kong and visit product (knock-off) showrooms or look through ODM catalogs for generic stuff on which they can slap a logo? And then, when some company has the rocks to do something creatively new and it succeeds, how many will jump on that bandwagon? Will ZinkKat’s “Chili” wrest the pipe from the iPod piper? And if so, how many weeks – not months – before some knock-off hits store shelves bearing the licensed trademark of a company that does little more than a cursory review of the product, gives the use of it’s brand a thumbs up, and then waits for the royalty check?

Well, based on recent reports, we can anticipate more of the same because we shouldn’t expect too much more Innovation and Creativity in the West (Link), in spite of all the recent hype.

The question people should be asking is: Why is this happening?

My answer is that this is the expected result of a Control System that’s spinning out of control. When consumer access to products and product information was limited, systems were effectively cemented in place and methodologies were specifically developed to maximize return on investment for each player in that old chain – including the non-discerning consumer. Risk was effectively taken out of the equation.

Today, there’s a collision of changes hurtling through the economic status quo. On the one hand we have the rise of the East and the decline (or should we say “death”) of Western manufacturing*. On the other hand consumers now have both access to and control over the best media platform in history to inform their buying decisions: the internet. And they care about brand loyalty just as much as those companies who licensed their reputations for a royalty check. So here we sit, the Western world evolved … without opposable thumbs.

(* I’d note that manufacturing processes themselves will most likely undergo a significant change in the near future… at which point all hell will break loose. The East, by emulating the West, may be setting itself up for a fall. Interesting times.)