So there's this table...

"So there’s this table with three chairs around it. It’s a very old table. These same people have been sitting here forever. The guy who created a product sits in one spot. Across from him is the guy who buys the product. And then there’s that other chair."


So opens a post on Jim Coudal's "A List Apart" blog. After this opening paragraph he goes on to parse the role of the marketing firm working to connect a brand with its consumer or consumer prospect. In Coudal's blog post, the third chair is the marketing firm. Not allowed really to sit at the table.

Now consider the table again. Sitting there is a manufacturer, one who is growing increasingly concerned about his primary channel for distribution. The retailer "partner" is in the second chair, reluctant to allow the manufacturer to get to know the ultimate customer, the consumer. "They're my customers, I'm yours," the retailer says.

There is no third chair at least as far as the manufacturer can see.

But how does the consumer feel about this equation? How would the consumer feel about not having a chair at the table? And how effective, how good can the manufacturer be if the consumer's chair is missing?

This is what we're working to change with one of our clients. The consumer experience is richer when there are three chairs at the table. I'm convinced of it.
(Image credit from "A List Apart.")

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