Josh Spear on tapping into the born-digital generation

by Josh Spear, Revolution UK 03-Mar-09, 09:30

LONDON - Do you believe in infinity? The born digital generation certainly does, writes Josh Spear, Revolution columnist and founding partner of Undercurrent.

Mathematicians, philosophers, scientists, theologists, astronomers.They've all studied the concept of infinity for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. It has bewildered the brightest and savviest citizens of planet Earth. The physical universe has been explored and documented, and physicists have tried to understand black holes, stars and the dark side of the moon. All the while attempting to explain them and their importance to the human race.

What does this have to do with the internet? Well, first, the internet is essentially infinite. Multiplying itself and growing by the millisecond.

Second, and more importantly, there is a generation of humans who have grown up in a world where they actively engage and understand, whether consciously or subconsciously, the concept of infinity as the never-ending, limitless possibility of space, time and, of course, energy. And this generation is becoming a pretty big chunk of the global population: one in five people are now under the age of 24.

So, as a 'born digital' consumer, I'm engaging with infinity day in and day out. My inbox is never full. I upload as many photos to Facebook as I damn well please. (Facebook by the way is now the largest photo-sharing site in the world, with users uploading more than 850 million pictures each month).

We can thank technology for enabling this phenomenon. It's simply beyond our understanding that we could ever reach our online limits. We simply can't fill up infinity.

Unlimited evening and weekend calls. Unlimited text messages. Unlimited minutes. Unlimited downloads. This is changing the way people think about the world, and fast.

When brands use scarcity as a marketing ploy, 'this product will be gone if you don't act now', or 'buy now while stocks last', the born-digital generation says 'bah humbug'. They'll check for it on eBay, or order it on-demand from a third-party site. They'll do anything to get what they want. You get the point?

The infinite number of possibilities, stock, text messages, space and speed sounds a lot like digital freedom to me.

Most brands are still in shackles. When brand X attempts to advertise to a group of people who understand and engage with infinity, no wonder it doesn't work. The start and stop, three-month banner-and-button campaign simply doesn't enter into the born-digital consumer's infinite universe of possibility.

If you want your brand to be around forever and your consumers to care about it, like, infinitely, then maybe you should start appreciating the power of infinity; you never know, it might change your world forever.

- Josh Spear, founding partner, Undercurrent