Gad Romann

Say the word and you’ll agree.

What’s happened more recently in the world of communication is we’ve entered into a time in which people interact with one another, in which they mediate their relationship to others and to the world around them.

The term media is outdated – it recalls the past but it scarcely projects the future. It inadequately describes our present day communication. Media, for all intents and purposes, is a selfish term. It was coined by the media and subsidized by networks and corporate advertising budgets – huge budgets. Together, they’ve owned the pipeline – the pipeline to what we’ve heard and seen and the pipeline to what we bought. They owned everything we consumed; they were our eyes, ears and even our stomachs.

Corporations who’ve subsidized the media and built it into a world empire are now having an uneasy time negotiating their way into the more intimate world of mediation. Intrusion is still the one sure way brands know how to communicate. It’s not unlike Bush’s foreign policy whose ideology goes something like this: The only way to bring freedom and democracy to anyone anywhere is to beat it into them through sheer force, or in this case, the sheer force of communication.

Delivering brand communication through TV, radio, magazines and newspapers has given brands the upper hand; the intrusion of the message has been deemed as a fair exchange for the entertainment and information one received – a swap of major democratic proportions.

With few exceptions, the networks enjoyed complete consumer consensus. They had the almost uncensored permission to transmit their messages anywhere anytime to any available audience. Success through advertising came easily; no one complained about the interruption of their favorite programming. In fact, not too long ago it seemed perfectly okay; it was even considered a welcome break. But in today’s environment, it suddenly appears crude – a less tolerable nuisance.

As long as the media ruled, there was little or no trouble lurking on the home front. Since the term media and everything it stands for has become obsolete, the methods for big brand communication have arguably become archaic.

With the convergence of media, predicted, by the way, as far back as the 40’s and 50’s –how we begin to understand the word “Mediate” – a new form of brand communication that even makes companies like Google and Yahoo appear like they belong to the old monolith – and Yahoo is about to be absorbed by one.

For years, brands have been the parasites of content – they preyed on content as if it was their daily source of sustenance. It was built on a symbiotic relationship that has lead to a dual addiction by both brands and the media. This biopower is now over.

There’s a new opportunity for brands to free themselves and build a new architecture. It’s based on a direct relationship with the consumer as opposed to an indirect relationship with the media. It’s called “Mediate.” Mediate benefits, mediate relationships and mediate beliefs. It’s the future of social networking.