Think about it. In the end of the day it is the dream of every marketer: Getting your customer completely entangled. That no matter what happens or what your competition does, your customer will keep loyal and purchasing from you. Brought to an extreme, it would the Monopolistic situation, where no competition is there and and your customer is 100% loyal to you.

So, how can we get this perfect entanglement? HOW CAN WE ATTAIN A DE FACTO MONOPOLY?

There is not of course a perfect response, and even monopolies, unproperly managed, come to an end. But we can find examples of Companies that have come close to this situation or are striving to be there. Many approaches are there but today I would like to concentrate on something gaining momentum: CREATING A CLOSED ECOSYSTEM.

The king of closed ecosystem is of course APPLE. In a time where open operating system and PCs were gaining momentum, Apple sticked to its principles and preserved its unique and close ecosystem. They started with their PCs and software developments, and then extrapolated the concept to the I-Pod, where they created a perfect and closed ecosystem combining a winning device (the I-Pod) with an outstanding platform (I-Tunes) where all content was evenly priced. The evolution has come with the I-Phone, where they are challenging the telecom operators with their I-Phone Store. In which you can download thousands of loosy applications before getting caught in the priced and good ones.

Another example, not so notorious, is the roleplaying game WORLD OF WARCRAFT. Offered for free, it has been able to attract and capture millions of online players that were attracted by a state-of-the-art game offered initially for free. Till they progress to a specific level in which they need to advance by paying for credits, they will surely do. For they are installed in a new dimension, in a new world where money is not relevant and no alternative is available.

SONY is also trying to play this game. They entered the console game, were very successful in terms of console placement, but not good enough in game sales. The results are unclear, but are surely behind their expectations. Not only they were incapable of creating a closed ecosystem but found an unexpected and powerful enemy: Piracy. Their response is coming with the new PSP where the gamer will only be available (with permission of hackers) to play with games downloaded or streamed from the Sony website. Seem to be good for Sony; not so sure on the other hand it will be attractive enough for the consumer. In the meantime, I wait anxiously for the details of this new business model launch.

And last but not least, we have GOOGLE. Wait a second, you may say, we are speaking about closed ecosystems and Google is doing just the opposite. Are you sure? Is it really the case? Or are they giving an image of openness while forcing every developer and user to play their “open game”? Doesn´t it look like an closed ecosystem enclosed in an open appearance? You can take your own conclusions.

Are Closed Ecosystems only possible through digital scenarios and tools? I would not go so far. But I would indeed affirm that the world is getting more and more digitalized, and so digital tools will be required.

THINK DIFFERENT!!! 

Ignacio Gafo