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We all know about the new economy revolution. It’s all changing:

the way we shop, the way we do business, the way we communicate.

An implication of this is changes for the leading players in the

marketplace over the past 50 or even 100 years.

The whole advertising and marketing industry grew up largely around what

we used to call FMCG firms. But recently we have seen a whole new

category of business. This new category will be the dominant influence

on those joining the advertising and marketing industry this decade.

For FMCG now read FMCS: fast-moving consumer services. This is the term

I have coined to sum up the new category, which embraces many of the

dotcoms and old economy firms in the early stages of transformation.

A telling example of the latter kind of business is Unilever, which

recently announced a shift of emphasis from domestic cleaning products

toward domestic cleaning services - from products to people.

With price transparency across Europe, retailers and manufacturers are

having to differentiate on service rather than on product. Supermarkets

now deliver to your door or work place. Banks and financial providers

fight to deliver new and ever faster services.

The internet, of course, is a great enabler in this process. But it is

only one element in the mix. The whole development of customer

relationship management and the means of tracking and developing these

relations, either through conventional or new channels, has highlighted

the importance of services over products.

Seismic shifts lie ahead for the FMCGs as they grapple with this threat

- or opportunity.

Those of us in the brand consulting sector have our work cut out trying

to anticipate the impact of these changes. Branding intangible services,

rather than tangible products, has always been more complex and

challenging.

All of us will have to address this bigger task, and deliver it faster

than ever.

This article was first published on Marketing