Jesus Jones is my inspiration for today's thoughts. Someone asked me in a meeting yesterday what I thought "the next big thing" is going to be.

Wow! If I definitely knew that, I'd buy all the domain names going, get some keyword-targeted ads and make a killing. No one knows for sure, but everyone likes to have an opinion.

Though it's already started to pick up speed now via apps such as Periscope and Meerkat, I think THE FUTURE will be instantaneous engagement and collaboration between brands and their customers.

This sounds like a nightmare for people who hate ads, or think that brands are too intrusive already, but cut me a little slack to explain.

Brand X runs a contest. Someone wins. Who knows how it was drawn, is it fair, fixed? Tweet it for entries, hashtag that bad boy and live stream the draw. Notify the winner, who can then live stream their joy at winning.

Brand Y has just launched a new product. Forget the press release! Wander into the CEO's office, fire up the live stream and capture their excitement and thoughts as the first online orders roll in or people sign up. The CEO picks five new customers then at random from the first few minutes, and they get it free for the first year.

Brand Z produces movies, covertly leaks spoilers and other snippets of information to build up buzz. Forget that jazz! Wander around the set, live stream the actors as they film scenes and set up a Spoiler Alert channel. The Internet is going to spoil stuff anyway, so just own it first and be transparent.

Right here, right now.

And here's the tune if you have a coffee break ...

John.