The age of Nice

Have you noticed that if the 80's were the era of Gordon Gecko and greed is good and the 90's were all Gen X, Indie, Rave and a world wrought with recession, terrorism and the realisation that perhaps Greed isn't all it's cracked up to be and getting loved up can make it all go away.

And now, as we come to the tail end of the Noughties, everything is 'Nice'.

Anthropologists will tell you that we're entering a phase of new found cultural optimism which is emerging in the aftermath of war, natural disasters and new world market development. Wise words, but I also say it's because people are being Nice.

Creativity is now the preferred social cache and what you do, not what you've got rule the order. Both consumers and brands alike are putting pressure on themselves to provide voices and outlets for this new social creativity and with it a dialogue of optimism and positivity.

But how many social network sites can the web hold. How many blogs do you have time to read? (This one of course)
How many gigs can you go to? How many photos can you share, videos can you upload and watch?

There was a 90's saying: "I used to spend time to save money, now I spend money to save time".

So for us the challenge is harder than it ever was - gain the consumers attention and interest.

Well the good news is things are now more interesting, but now we're pitching for more time in an already crowded head.

So who wins? Well the nicest of course.

Welcome to the age of Nice.