They expect a story tailored specially for them, a level of trust and transparency with the brands they do business with and, most importantly, a great experience. Brands delivering anything less will ultimately be ignored. The best marketers will focus on building their muscles in data to drive relevance, design to generate an experience that makes consumers feel good, and delivery to bring it on-demand. And as a side benefit, as consumers appreciate those experiences more, they will also value the marketing profession more highly, helping it attract the talent that will drive the right virtuous cycle.

Marketers are missing a powerful opportunity to engage with consumers and deliver personalized experiences that drive brand affinity.

Of course you can look at any number of business or marketing or design discipline with a similarity skewed, negative perspective. (Please be my guest, I’d enjoy that). I readily admit I am far from normal, whatever normal is these days. But hey, that’s just me.