Brands started as a stamp on a product, and became a gadget designed to get people to buy, an emotional lever. Now they’re becoming something bigger and different. Brands are becoming platforms. More and more, customers are invited not just to buy things but to do things. On the platforms of eBay, Wikipedia, flickr and YouTube, people sell things, share knowledge, broadcast visual ideas. Through Zopa, people lend to and borrow from each other. On Sellaband, you can launch your favourite unknown band, and then share in the profits. Sony Ericsson shows how its mobiles enable people to do what they love. Peugeot now invites customers to become car designers, and crowdspirit gets large numbers of people to invent new electronic products. Newspapers like the Guardian have become less promoters of an ideology, and more a platform for a spread of voices, including those of readers. Across the developed world, consumers are becoming active, even activists, and brands their platform. It’s a less emotional, more practical relationship – people don’t love eBay, though they love what it allows them to do. As consumers are invited not to buy but to work, functionality really matters. Creating a brand, and designing the service behind it, are becoming inseparable.