Last week we attended #SMWF - Social Media World Forum in London. We'll be publishing key take-aways on current and emerging trends in digital and social media from leading global and innovative brands. The first is a discussion on social business models from Fiat Digital Marketing and CRM Manager, Pepe Moder.
We’ve all seen the LinkedIn jpg:
· Uber, the largest taxi company does not own any car,
· Facebook, the biggest media owner in the world does not produce content,
· AirBnB, the biggest hospitality provider does not own any real estate,
· Alibaba, the biggest retailer in the world does not have any inventory.
“All of these businesses are based on a social service platform model that motivates people to participate via social communities,” says Pepe Moder, Digital Marketing & CRM Director, FCA Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. “They bring people together in a common environment and incentivise them to participate and build trust in the system to to improve the service. Industry without any physical assets – these platforms disrupt and change the rules of the industry and the business is completely reversed.”
Pepe discussed the rise and demise of the music industry with the introduction of iTunes and pondered its future, now that consumers are transitioning to subscription-based services such as Spotify. He challenged delegates to consider their own industry and the disruption it will endure over the next five years.
Pepe shared a new initiative from Fiat, in response to Uber and new ride-sharing platform, BlaBlaCar. Collaborating with Italian oil and gas giant ENI and national rail service, Trenitalia, Fiat begun a car subscription service, Enjoy. Fiat offers a fleet of 2,000 bright red Enjoy cars in various locations that can be driven by any of the 250,000 subscribers. In this new paradigm Fiat has become a service provider, rather than solely manufacturer. Pepe argued that all businesses should think about how they can change or diversify their offering to include a web-based social service model to give them a competitive advantage in their industry. “Start seriously investing in experimenting with startups, different business models and different approaches that are not part of the establishment,” he said.
“We build cars – that’s what we do,” said Pepe. “But we need to rethink our vision for our business in the long-term – it doesn’t mean than people won’t buy cars anymore, it means that some people will access cars via a service, perhaps a subscription service, and we need to become a global player in providing the ability to move people from point A to B."
To see more information and discussion from the Social Media World Forum, check out #SMWF on twitter.
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