The Rise of the Empowered Consumer: An in-depth investigation of how the behavior of today’s empowered consumer affects the way companies should approach communication in order to strengthen their corporate brands in the digital society

Abstrakt

Consumers are now more empowered than ever before. The fast spread of the Internet and the development of new technologies and digital media have led to increased consumer demands and created a situation in which companies have to work harder to gain competitive advantages. Therefore, this thesis investigates and clarifies how the digital development affects the relationship between consumers and companies and which challenges companies face today in regards to creating relevant and attractive communication. Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to uncover consumer behavior trends that characterize the empowered consumer in order to equip companies to navigate in the corporate landscape. As a result, we develop and present a new organizational model, Corporate Conversations, which grasps the communicative realities of today. The model is built upon the fact that companies need to found their communication on a dialogue-based paradigm and engage in conversations with their surroundings. This is to accommodate consumers that are more in control of shaping brand perceptions and affecting other consumers’ consumption decisions. Specifically, the model proposes that companies constantly need to sense inputs in their surroundings and embrace flexibility in their way of doing business in order to establish themselves as strong players in the market. Consequently, this thesis provides our recommendation on how companies can create value and adapt to the consumer requirements that exists in the market today.