Collaborative consumption

February 3rd, 2011  |  Janice Carter

WHAT’S MINE IS YOURS from rachel botsman on Vimeo.

Until recently, the term “collaborative consumption” was absent from my vocabulary. According to Wikipedia “The term collaborative consumption is used to describe the cultural and economic force away from ‘hyper-consumption’ to re-invented economic models of sharing, swapping, bartering, trading or renting that have been enabled by advances in social media and peer-to-peer online platforms.” Nominated by GOOD Magazine as “One Of The 15 Books You Should Have Read In 2010”,  “What’s Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption” presents a compelling case. Authors Roo Rogers and Rachel Botsman discuss the rise of car sharing, temporary room rentals, clothing swaps and social lending. I found it refreshing to read about real examples of these peer-to-peer marketplaces: zipcar, city car share, AirBnB, iStopOver, thredup, Lending Club and Zopa.

Since reading the book, I’ve become aware of collaborative consumption and started to notice other instances of the movement. For example, Alex Bogusky recently left advertising hot-shop Crispin Porter + Bogusky to build “COMMON.” It calls itself a “new capitalist brand” built on “transitioning from competitive advantage to collaborative advantage.”

Along similar lines, former Nike creative at Wieden+Kennedy and worldwide creative director at Ogilvy released a new book this month. “We First” explores how social media and emerging technologies bring brands and consumers together to build a more socially and economically prosperous world. Bogusky and “We First” strike me as trying too hard to be do-gooders, but I admire the premise and think they’re on to something.