Webinar Open-source Marketing

The core behind this new paradigm is the importance of collaboration with outside stakeholders to achieve marketing objectives. We used to think of activities like market research, product development, and communication as well-defined and well-structured. However, these tasks are becoming much more complex and, because of that the distinction between the firm and the environment is often blurred.

For many companies in many industries, competitive advantage will increasingly come from the ability to partner and collaborate with other organizations and individuals. This is what Professor Puntoni calls ‘open-source’ marketing.

Many marketers and communicators read obsessively about social media marketing, trying to understand what it can do for them and their organization. The reason for that interest is that peer-to-peer communication is more persuasive than company-sponsored communication. Accordingly, many companies have started to invest large sums in communication programs designed to get customers to do the talking for the company. The new paradigm for organizing communication activities therefore relies on enlisting outside individuals as agents for our own communication. In other words, the communication function is opening up.

The imperative is to collaborate with upstream and downstream partners to minimalize the impact of the entire value chain.

Stefano Puntoni

Stefano Puntoni is a professor of marketing at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. His research has appeared in many leading journals, including Harvard Business Review, Journal of Consumer Research, and Nature Human Behaviour. Most of his ongoing research investigates how new technology is changing consumption and society, with a focus on automation, Artificial Intelligence, and the general topic of technological unemployment.

Stefano teaches in the areas of marketing strategy, brand management, and decision making. He has taught at Lancaster University, London Business School, Bocconi University, and the American University in Cairo. The Financial Times named him a “Professor to Watch”.