Fighting the digital commodity magnet

3.   Non-comparable products: if a product is easy to compare with its direct rivals, it is also easy for the algorithm to detect the differences between the products, which may not always work in your favour. If you can develop a product that cannot be compared with others, you will have a big advantage.

4.   A human touch: The human touch is clearly not the focus of the tech giants, which makes it a potential differentiator for other companies. This was covered in my previous book, When Digital becomes Human. The more scarce the human aspects becomes, the more value it has. Humans should focus in the emotional parts of a customer relationship. In fact, it is possibly the biggest differentiator of all in a digital world.

4.   Finding new markers of trust: classic marketing communication no longer reaches large parts of the market. To influence people in the future, you need to find channels they know and trust.

The power of the commodity magnet is huge. Digital platforms are taking over the primary positions in the brand hierarchy. As a company leader, you can't just let this happen. Working together with the digital platforms has become inevitable, but at the same time you must rise to the challenge of maintaining the position of your brand, as best you can, against them. This is a very difficult balancing act.