The Post-Digital Era: Why Open Source Is the Future of Marketing and Media
This article explores why open-source is integral to the Post-Digital Era, how leading CPG companies are adopting it, and why it’s critical for CEOs, Managing Directors, and Marketing Directors to consider its implementation in media and marketing efforts.
In an industry increasingly divided between traditional and digital mindsets, the Post-Digital Era offers a new perspective that transcends old paradigms. This transformation calls for a unified approach, integrating the agility of digital with the authenticity and transparency of traditional practices. At its core, the Post-Digital Era is about rethinking technology, strategy, and ethics—and a key part of this is embracing open-source technology. Open-source solutions represent not just a technological evolution but a strategic shift that enables companies to innovate faster, reduce costs, and build ethical business practices.
Why the Post-Digital Era Matters
The term "Post-Digital" does not mean the end of digital; instead, it refers to moving beyond the narrow focus on short-term digital performance metrics and isolated tech solutions that defined the first wave of the digital era. It means integrating digital, analog, and physical experiences into cohesive strategies that create long-term value, authenticity, and trust.
In this context, open-source becomes more than just a set of tools—it becomes the backbone of a business philosophy. By leveraging the collective intelligence of global communities, companies can build adaptable, transparent, and cost-efficient systems that align with the ethical expectations of modern consumers and regulatory demands for data transparency and security. The brands that embrace this approach are positioning themselves as the leaders of a new, more responsible and sustainable marketing era.
The Promise of Open Source: Beyond Cost-Savings
While the open-source movement is often associated with its cost-saving benefits—eliminating licensing fees and reducing dependency on expensive proprietary software—it’s about much more than reducing expenses. It’s about fostering collaboration, flexibility, and innovation:
Collaboration: Open-source solutions thrive on cooperation from a global community of developers, companies, and organizations. This shared intelligence allows companies to solve complex problems faster and incorporate cutting-edge features that would be too costly or slow to develop independently within proprietary systems.
Flexibility: Open-source software allows companies to customize and scale their technology solutions to meet their specific needs. This adaptability is crucial for businesses navigating the rapidly changing landscape of consumer behaviour and digital marketing.
Innovation: Businesses can innovate more rapidly by tapping into open-source communities. Rather than being confined to the roadmap and pace of a single vendor, companies gain access to the latest technologies and enhancements developed by a diverse and motivated network of contributors.
Blue-Chip Companies Adopting Open Source
In the CPG industry, some of the world’s most recognizable brands are already integrating open-source strategies, focusing on sustainability and ethical practices. These companies leverage Open-Source to enhance product development, optimize supply chains, and build stronger connections with their consumer bases. Here’s how some major brands are leading the charge:
Unilever has focused on open-source sustainability practices, collaborating with stakeholders on sustainable farming methods and integrating these initiatives into its marketing strategies to build credibility and transparency.
Procter & Gamble (P&G) has engaged in open-source partnerships around sustainable materials development, using these initiatives to appeal to eco-conscious consumers.
Nestlé and Coca-Cola leverage open-source technologies to optimize supply chains and logistics, highlighting these innovations in their marketing campaigns to create a narrative of environmental responsibility.
Danone and PepsiCo integrate open-source strategies for sustainable packaging and water conservation, using these collaborative efforts as part of their brand stories.
These companies exemplify how open-source strategies align with modern values, such as transparency and sustainability, to enhance brand equity. However, despite their openness to innovation in product development, most companies face obstacles in extending open-source principles into their media and marketing operations.
The Bottleneck: Agency Partners and the Proprietary Lock-In
Despite CPG giants' willingness to integrate open-source approaches in sustainability and supply chain management, they struggle to extend these practices to marketing and media strategies. The primary roadblock lies in their agency partners, specifically the "Big Six" holdings: WPP, Publicis, Omnicom, IPG, Havas, and Dentsu, as well as consultants such as Accenture.
These giant Holding companies dominate the marketing landscape, relying heavily on selling proprietary tools and reselling Martech from their preferred vendors to maximize revenue through commissions, fees, and markups. This business model, whilst immensely profitable for agency groups with margins based on volume, intermediation, principal media, and tech reselling models, conflicts directly with client interests such as open-source principles and adoption:
Proprietary Dependence: Holding companies often maintain close relationships with proprietary martech and black-box tool vendors. Pushing these vendor solutions ensures a continuous, recurring revenue stream through platform lock-ins, fees and commissions. Open-source, which eliminates these fees and empowers clients to own their technology, threatens this model.
Lack of Transparency: Traditional agency models benefit from opacity in pricing and technology choices, which open-source would disrupt. Full transparency inherent in open-source systems would require agencies to operate openly about costs, potentially revealing hidden markups and misaligned priorities.
Control Over Technology: The shift to open-source would empower brands with control over their tech stacks, reducing agencies' influence. Many agencies prefer the current power dynamics, where they dictate technology choices and strategies, creating a dependency loop for brands.
The Consequences of Sticking to Closed Systems
For CPG brands, historically the most savvy in Consumer Marketing, the inability to integrate open-source into their marketing and media technologies is more than just a missed opportunity; it’s a significant strategic risk.
Companies that remain locked into proprietary systems may face:
Rising Costs: As digital advertising becomes more complex, agencies continue to profit by layering more technology on top of their solutions. This raises costs without necessarily delivering improved results or transparency.
Reduced Flexibility: Proprietary systems can adapt slowly, making it difficult for brands to respond quickly to market changes or consumer behaviour shifts. With digital evolution accelerating, pivoting and innovating is essential for maintaining a competitive edge.
Ethical and Compliance Risks: In an era of increasing regulation, such as GDPR and CCPA, transparency is no longer optional. Open-source technology aligns with these regulations by providing an auditable, transparent framework for managing data, unlike many closed Martech systems that hide data flows and fail to comply with emerging privacy standards.
Embracing the Post-Digital Era: A Call to Action
The Post-Digital Era is about more than evolving technology—it’s about adopting a mindset prioritising sustainability, ethics, transparency, and adaptability. CEOs, Managing Directors, and Marketing Directors must recognize the importance of transitioning away from proprietary, closed systems and instead explore the vast potential that open-source solutions provide:
Aligning with Modern Values: Consumers today demand more than just quality products; they seek brands that align with their values of transparency, sustainability, and ethical behaviour. Adopting open-source strategies in media and marketing not only builds trust but also strengthens brand loyalty by showing a commitment to these values.
Investing in Agility and Innovation: By adopting open-source, businesses can unlock new levels of agility, customizing and scaling their tech stacks to fit specific needs and market demands. This positions brands to react, lead, and innovate in a ubiquitous digital planet.
Ensuring Long-term Compliance: With data privacy regulations becoming increasingly stringent, transparent and auditable systems are paramount. Open-source technologies provide a framework for compliance that proprietary systems, with their opaque architectures, often fail to meet.
NEW BREED Independent Agencies as Catalysts for Change
As traditional agency giants resist change to protect their revenue models, a new breed of independent agencies that embrace open-source, sustainable, distributed, and inclusive principles emerge as the true enablers of the Post-Digital Era. These agencies, untethered by legacy relationships, prioritize client needs and ethical practices, offering customized, scalable, and transparent solutions. They prove that open-source is not just a possibility but a necessary evolution for brands seeking to thrive in a rapidly changing market.
By partnering with forward-thinking agencies that understand the power of open-source and the demands of the Post-Digital landscape, brands can finally unlock the full potential of their marketing and media strategies—free from the constraints and costs of proprietary systems.
The Risk of Using Open Source as a Marketing Narrative Without True Implementation
In the Post-Digital Era, consumers seek transparency and ethical practices and demand authenticity and proof of action. Brands in the CPG industry and beyond have started incorporating open-source as part of their marketing and media narrative, claiming to support open-source principles like collaboration, sustainability, and innovation. However, a critical risk lies in using open source merely as a narrative without implementing it meaningfully, particularly in marketing and media technology-based activations.
Beware of the “Tick the box syndrome”; Open-source is not a fad or a hype, and your younger customers – who the future of your business relies on- know more about coding and Open-Source than your agency and closed sorftware vendors.
When authentically applied, open-source represents a fundamental shift toward transparency and empowerment. Yet, if companies only highlight open-source initiatives superficially—perhaps showcasing sustainable packaging projects or collaborative partnerships in their marketing campaigns without integrating these principles into their broader media strategies—they risk being perceived as disingenuous. Today’s super-conscious consumers are highly skilled at detecting inconsistencies and expect brands to surpass surface-level promises.
The consequences of such an approach are significant. For instance, a company that promotes its open-source and ethical initiatives in marketing campaigns but still uses closed, opaque Martech systems in its media operations may face backlash for hypocrisy. These consumers, who access more information than ever, quickly call out brands that don’t "walk the talk." When the reality behind the marketing message doesn’t align with the company’s actual practices, the brand's credibility is at stake. This can lead to public trust erosion, negative press, and consumer disengagement.
To avoid these pitfalls, brands must partner with suitable media and marketing technology providers who genuinely embrace open-source principles and have the expertise to implement them effectively. Working with independent, forward-thinking agencies prioritising open-source integration ensures that companies are not just leveraging the narrative but authentically transforming their marketing and media ecosystems. This means implementing open-source technologies in campaign management, media buying, and analytics, thus building transparent, flexible, privacy-first, and adaptive solutions that align with the values they promote.
In short, brands must commit to a comprehensive open-source strategy that extends beyond marketing messaging and into the operational core of their media practices. By doing so, they align with consumer expectations and set themselves up for long-term success, proving their genuine commitment to transparency, collaboration, and innovation.
The Post-Digital Era is not just an evolution; it’s a transformation that redefines how businesses connect with consumers and build sustainable growth. How enterprises are perceived outside and how they behave in-house are now equally important, as marketing, advertising, and media mirror any company's internal culture and values, and people are well-trained in spotting fakeness. Open-source technology is one of the foundations of this transformation, offering a path toward more ethical, adaptable, and cost-effective marketing and media solutions.
For business leaders, the message is clear: the time to act is now.
By moving beyond proprietary constraints and embracing open-source, companies can lead in the Post-Digital Era, aligning their strategies with modern values and consumer expectations.
The future belongs to those who innovate transparently, build ethically, and operate agilely, and Open source is one of the keys to unlocking that future.
Alex Lawton
Founder @ LA PIPA IS LA PIPA
alex.lawton@remotivemedia.com
alex@lapipa.io
