Influx

Analysts might be scratching there heads over E-Bay’s purchase of Skype , feeling that they paid too much for a company that nobody has heard of, that doesn’t currently generate much revenue and sells an emerging technology.

However, from a marketing perspective, this move by E-Bay brings together a triumvirate of C21st brands, brands all created without any significant marketing investment.

All three brands where developed from an innovative service or technology that out-trumped the incumbent and carved out a new territory, creating massive loyal communities of users.

Interestingly, unlike other technology players who are so engineering driven, they fail to grasp the value of brand, E-Bay gets it, as does Skype.

So what are the characteristics of these C21st century brands and how might others try and emulate them?

1.They have ambitious, clear and focused goals (BHAGs)

Skype- “to be the world’s largest internet communication company”

E-Bay- “to be the world’s leading platform for online commerce”

2. They provide a superior alternative to the incumbents and they give some of it away

3. They innovate in real-time and don’t rest on their laurels

They understand the consumer is fickle and ready to jump ship at any time

4. They value their community- they seek its advice and they respond to its needs

They are bottom-up, rather than top-down

5. They open themselves up to collaboration- they open-source their code

In many ways, the deal is something of a live experiment, to see if three brands, created in the last 10 years, can leverage the power of their communities and take on the incumbents in commerce, finance and communications. Doing it in a way that doesn’t follow the traditional marketing model, but instead works from the bottom-up. It will be an interesting exercise to see if people powered marketing can really start a large-scale revolution. An opportunity for E-Bay, that’s worth significantly more than the few billion dollars they just paid for Skype.