m-cause

There’s no such thing as a free lunch –Milton Friedman

Back in the 80s, Alvin & Heidi Toffler came up with the term “prosumer” for people who create goods, services or experiences for their own use or satisfaction rather than for sale or exchange. Businesses that embraced the “prosumer” trend have prospered nicely since the Toffler’s first coined the phrase back in the early 80s:

• Amazon.com (leveraging consumer reviews)
• Home Depot (DIY)
• Linux (open source software)

Like many of you out there, I enjoy prosuming.  I blog & volunteer with charitable organizations, start-up businesses & church. I also enjoy investigating how brands are leveraging prosuming to drive their business, so I find myself participating in different branded prosumer activities when they cross my path. I don’t, however, enjoy prosuming when it involves putting in extra labor on some things that have been smartly “outsourced” to me by companies or governments.  One horrible example comes from the tax man…I cannot stand how governments get me to dig deep into my finances (sometimes for hours) just so they can get paid. I don’ t know about you, but I find the ever increasing complexity of the tax man annoying (especially as my wife is German, I live in Switzerland and am an American).

I’ve really never thought about the economic impact of prosuming. To my surprise, the Toffler’s estimate that the economic impact of prosuming could be 50 Trillion USD.  I have no idea how they reached this enormous number, but if they are even close to right, then there is WAY more hidden, “under the iceberg” prosuming activity out than I ever thought.

Futuristic prosuming activity that I have always heard about, but never really considered, is rapid prototyping and desktop production.  Futurists have been predicting that someday, we will be able to produce our own clothing, furniture, sports equipment, etc. cheaply at home–on our own.  Admittedly, I still have some reservations about this.  I know desktop manufacturing will make it much easier for small manufacturing start-ups to get going, and I realize that zealous DIY counterfeiters will one day be able to perfectly recreate pretty much any item at home.  But, personally, I find it hard to believe that I will ever “print-out” my own watch at home.   Having said that, there are some folks out there watching this space closer than I am (check out this link) and I must admit that some of the new technologies coming out today are simply amazing.

The Toffler’s further assert that prosuming will continue to grow rapidly as it expands and deepens across health care, pensions, education, technology, etc. or the next few decades.

There is so much untapped prosuming potential out there…wouldn’t it be great if a company could harness it for good?  A couple of months back I wrote about ifwerantheworld.com, a company that is trying to organize “prosumers with good intentions” across the world.   As I wrote this post, this start-up kept popping up in my mind as something to watch. Good companies and marketers will continue to watch the prosumer space and find ways to harness it.

Do you have a favorite start-ups looking to harness prosumers in a positive way?

Hat tip to the Tofflers for their excellent book Revolutionary Wealth and their interesting prosumer examples (e.g. tax man)

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