Did anyone catch this article about Radiohead’s groundbreaking marketing tactic of offering downloads of their new album online for ‘whatever you think it’s worth’?

I first heard about it a while back and thought it a significant example of major changes in the relationships between producers and consumers. The article spells it out well as it relates to the music business, but I can’t help but see the bigger metaphor for how the Internet and commercial use social media is radically altering our models for commercial exchange.

It used to be that you had a good idea and the first order of business was convince the folks who controlled the distribution in your industry that it was also a good idea. You might retain creative rights over the product, but the mechanics of getting it into the hands of consumers was complex, expensive and controlled by an elite few.

Radiohead astutely observed that 1.) the distribution mechanics of their industry was changing rapidly, and 2.) they were a strong enough band (brand) to take a chance on abandoning the old, slow and expensive model and going direct to the consumer.

What I really liked about this story is the description of what their creative process is like when they work through the old model of distribution with a major label. Their creative output was slow to get to market (albums take much longer to release), the promotional campaign (a tour) for selling the new product (album) was long and boring and kept them from what they really enjoyed the most—product innovation (writing and recording new music).

Getting closer to their fans (customers) allowed them to see what works immediately. A great example of early recording tapes tossed up on YouTube is given in the story. Rather than screaming about copyrights and trying to retain a death grip on brand perception, the band fully embraces the phenomenon of their art (product) being co-opted by the Internet Commons and rightly views it as a highly efficient, low cost feedback loop.

We often talk at Scout Labs about how getting closer to the consumer speeds up innovation. Hats off to Radiohead for progressive marketing innovation that ended up accelerating their product innovation as well in ways they never expected.

Somehow I missed Tony’s post on the same topic six weeks ago, but I think it’s still worth adding this little anecdote.

Jeff Jarvis over at BuzzMachine made some waves a while back when he complained about Dell. He’s an influential blogger. Dell unwisely ignored him, but lots of other people joined what became a pretty vocal mob of Dell bashers.

Remarkably, Dell had an epiphany:

Dell’s attitude toward blogs at the time was “look, don’t touch.” But it soon became apparent that my fellow Dell-hell travelers and I were a leading indicator of other problems at the company in quality and service, not to mention revenue, marketshare, and share price (to say nothing of accounting issues). But things began to turn around when Dell opened a company blog, which was off to a puffy start until Lionel, the chief blogger, entered, speaking with customers in an honest, direct, humble, and human voice. Next they put together a team to reach out to bloggers who had problems. They started a social-y site called IdeaStorm so customers could tell Dell what to do. And when the company realized how much of a turnaround it needed, Michael Dell took charge again. He and I even met at Davos. So this is the point in the story when I come to Texas.

Read the rest of the story here.

Bill Marriott, CEO of guess which hotel conglomerate, has recently joined the blogosphere, and in his inaugural post, he recognizes the power (and value) of consumer generated content with respect to the travel industry. His very savvy response is to participate, with honesty and enthusiasm.

The result is a very engaging blog that provides a window into how at least one industry wrestles with things like environmental impact, immigration and cigarette smoking. Along with each written post is an audio version, which is a nice touch.

This is a blog to watch.

Interesting WSJ article about how three big companies-Doritos, Chevy and the NFL- are holding competitions for consumers to inspire/produce their superbowl ads. “Marketers like the idea of letting the public help make ads, in hopes of creating spots that resonate more with their audience — particularly young people who tend to be turned off by slickly produced spots. But marketers are also reluctant to give up control, concerned about the image their ads project.”

The article pointed out that many of the submissions to the contests came not from ttru amateurs, bu the growing class of prosumers- people in sales and marketing, or amateur filmmakers.