Brands creating revenue streams for customers

We at OFD made a discovery recently. It was more of an awareness of a pattern, and while it happened suddenly we disagree with our friend Malcolm Gladwell that is was the result of rapid cognition, the core thesis of his engaging book Blink.

Our 'ahah!' was much more likely the result of expansive processing in the human mind happening below the radar; realizations, epiphanies and Eurekas being consequences of mental activity and creativity emerging from the depths of our sub-conscious rather than the spontaneity and randomness or rapid processing it might otherwise seem.

We noticed a pattern of companies that create value for themselves by creating a revenue stream for its customers. A few examples of this are



Ebay unlocks money previously frozen in objects that have become less valuable to people over time. Some people make a living out of this.



Babajob rewards people who are the referral backbone for connecting job seekers with job oppportunities. Two kinds of people - the person encouraging a possible candidate to sign up and the person providing a character reference are compensated.




The German government by law, must buy any excess electricity that a home owner produces by solar means, beyond what he consumes in running the home.



This could be an important clue for marketers. People understand they possess more than possessions but knowledge capital that they want to be rewarded for. Perhaps in a web2.0 world the way to make social networking pay is it create a way for consumers to be compensated for the kinds and caliber of connections that they make possible.

Food for thought.