In the “Fifth Paradigm” of Technology, Will Tech Actually Lead Us to Truth?

The coronavirus pandemic is dramatically disrupting not only our daily lives but society itself. This show features conversations with some of the world’s leading thinkers and writers about the deeper economic, political, and technological consequences of the pandemic. It’s our new daily podcast trying to make longterm sense out of the chaos of today’s global crisis.

In this episode, Andrew Keen talks with Raja Rajamannar about his new book, Quantum Marketing, and the challenges of marketers in a modern business world that’s changing with unprecedented speed and disruption.

From the episode:

Andrew Keen: The subtitle of your new book is Mastering the New Marketing Mindset for Tomorrow’s Consumers. Tell me about tomorrow’s consumers. Who are they?

Raja Rajamannar: When you look at tomorrow’s consumers, what I meant by that is that today, we are in what I call the Fourth Paradigm of marketing. If you look at consumers in the Fourth Paradigm versus, say, in the Second Paradigm, the consumers of Second Paradigm did not have mobile phones, they did not have internet, they did not have the kind of social media platforms that are available today. As each one of these technologies started coming nto their lives, the lifestyles of these people have changed dramatically. So yesterday’s consumers were not the same as today’s consumers.

Andrew Keen: They’re more empowered then, Raja. We’re all familiar with photos of these strange characters who invaded Congress at the beginning of January. Are these the new consumers? I know they’re not necessarily typical, but should we be fearful of these kinds of empowered consumers?

Raja Rajamannar: I’m actually talking about digitally empowered consumers. Digitally empowered consumers are able to do things they could not do before, like getting the information, getting something in real time, getting to the truth. For example, today there is a lot of misinformation and fake news. But when you come to Fifth Paradigm, a lot of it will start getting resolved to, where the algorithms will be sophisticated enough, the platforms will be responsible enough, that it is possible to get to the truth.

Andrew Keen: So technology will get us to the truth. The other big story recently was the GameStop story, of investors taking on Wall Street. Is the GameStop example a model of what you call the Fifth Paradigm, of an empowered consumer getting to the truth?

Raja Rajamannar: It could very well be. Yes, absolutely. What you have seen in this GameStop scenario is an unprecedented level of consumerism. Now, I will not take a judgmental stance and say it’s good or bad. But what I’m saying is when consumers get together, what will be the platform they are on? They can actually bring about dynamic and radical changes, which they are.

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Raja Rajamannar is a globally recognized marketer, an innovative thinker, a transformational business leader, and a highly successful brand builder. Starting as a marketing trainee, he worked his way up through different companies, industries, and geographies around the world to become the global Chief Marketing and Communications Officer of Mastercard, which he has built into an iconic brand that is now rated amongst the top twelve brands globally. He was named Global Marketer of the Year by the World Federation of Advertisers, as Forbes Top 5 World’s Most Influential CMOs, Business Insider‘s 25 Most Innovative CMOs in the World, Ad Week‘s Top 10 Most Tech Savvy CMOs in the World, Billboard‘s 2018 Top Branding Power Player, and Campaign Power 100, and he is an inductee into The CMO Club Hall of Fame. He was elected as the President of the World Federation of Advertisers and is also on the board of directors of PPL Corporation (a Fortune 500 company).