A creative consumer is defined as any "individual or group who adapt, modify, or transform a proprietary offering".
Traditional
consumer
A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or use purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...
s simply use and consume products and services, creative consumers do the same but also change them in some way.
Examples include:
* The hacker
George Hotz
George Francis Hotz (born October 2, 1989), alias geohot, is an American security hacker, entrepreneur, and software engineer. He is known for developing iOS jailbreaks, reverse engineering the PlayStation 3, and for the subsequent lawsuit bro ...
unlocked the original
iPhone
The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...
and hacked Sony's
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...
, then gave away these hacks for free.
* Jose Avila made
FedEx furniture for his apartment exclusively from
Federal Express
FedEx Corporation, originally known as Federal Express Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company specializing in transportation, e-commerce, and business services. The company is headquartered in Memphis, Tenness ...
boxes.
* Jim Hill, a devoted
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
fan, designed and delivered guided but unauthorized tours of
Disneyland
Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...
.
In 2005, ''
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...
'' published an article about the future of innovation, ‘The rise of the creative consumer’.
This article explained that some companies rely on identifying and leveraging the innovation potential of creative consumers. However, many companies may feel threatened or upset by the actions of creative consumers. Hotz, Avila, and Hill all received negative, and in some cases threatening, reactions from the companies whose products and services they had repurposed.
Berthon, et al., proposed that companies can take four general stances on creative consumers.
These stances are determined by whether the company's actions toward these creative consumers are active or passive and whether the company's attitude towards creative consumers is either positive or negative.
The four stances are:
* Resist stance (active/negative): restrain consumer creativity
* Discourage stance (passive/negative): tolerate or ignore consumer creativity
* Encourage stance (passive/positive): don't actively facilitate consumer creativity
* Enable stance (active/positive): actively facilitate consumer creativity
See also
*
References
Bibliography
*{{cite journal, last1=Page, first1=Kelly L., last2=Pitt, first2=Leyland, title=Web 2.0, Social Media, and Creative Consumers: Special Issue, journal=Journal of Consumer Behaviour, date=1 November 2011, volume=10, issue=6, pages=i–iii, doi=10.1002/cb.390, language=en, issn=1479-1838, doi-access=free
Sales
Consumer behaviour