There is a general feeling nowadays that things are out of control. An understatement, perhaps, but not a misstatement. People feel a loss of agency.
This is the panic over AI. The alarm being sounded right now is that AI is advancing so fast that we will soon be at its mercy unless we rein it in immediately. The worst-case scenario is said to be human extinction as AI seizes control of our future.
There is no greater loss of agency than extinction, but any loss of agency can feel like the end of the world. Particularly something like privacy.
The loss of agency is a big part of privacy concerns. Control over personal information is difficult if not impossible in a world in which data breaches and sovereign hacking have become so common that they barely register as news any longer.
Privacy concerns are up, but most people feel that crossing their fingers is the best they can do.
Prices are another area in which the loss of agency feels like lights out.
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Many economists argue that the broader societal consequences of inflation are worse than those of unemployment. Inflation hits everybody, and it destroys value in everything, not just employment. It shortens time horizons, and it corrupts resource allocation. And there is not much that people can do about it.
Higher prices change behaviors, but the overhang of inflation remains. Behaviors can only change within the options available to people. If there are no cheaper alternatives, then there is no finessing higher prices. This is the situation facing people right now with housing and health care. And it is increasingly the situation in other categories as well.
Surveillance pricing is becoming commonplace. This sort of predictive pricing improves brand margins by narrowing, even eliminating, consumer agency. Consumers can’t shop around because they can’t access alternative options or different prices. Nor can consumers easily negotiate prices because brands are employing predictive models that, in effect, read the cards consumers are holding.
People are aware of the position in which surveillance pricing puts them. So, we see calls for regulation. But if AI and privacy are any guide, this push back is not likely to amount to much. Agency will take another hit.
Consumers are not powerless, though. People have new tools and a new determination. GLP-1s are one of these new tools. Much of the attraction is the sense of empowerment they give people. Instead of being at the mercy of cravings, appetites, and addictions, people can reclaim their agency with these new medications.
As much as AI is a macro threat to agency, it is also a personal tool for people to use for self-improvement and self-optimization. AI gives people information, ideas, reviews, recommendations and access to alternatives. It can help find lower prices and protect personal information. It can teach, tutor, explain and edit, making people more self-sufficient and more knowledgeable.
The power of AI is especially important to people when it comes to health and well-being. New remedies and better therapies can be found and evaluated. In fact, people are using AI more and more for mental well-being and therapeutic companionship. People are starting to use AI as a workaround to traditional healthcare institutions when they feel choices and remedies are unavailable or coming up short.
In all of this, we can see that the tension shaping the direction in which people are moving is a clash over agency. As the direction of things is taking agency away from people, people are fighting for more.
The chief manifestation of this fight for agency is hyper-vigilance and greater auditing. The characteristic mindset of consumers today is one of hyperactive scrutiny. Expectations are up. Patience is down. Demands are greater.
Brand should strengthen competitive position, pricing power, and enterprise value. The Blake Project helps make that happen.
The natural reaction by marketers, of course, is to counter control with control. As consumers look to push away, marketers are trying to pull closer. This is the standoff of the moment.
Much of what consumer attitudes reflect is a strong, underlying aversion the loss of agency in their lives, work and consumption. Faced with less, they are insisting on more.
Marketers have yet to figure out the way to earn more while requiring less—but cracking that code is the opportunity at hand.
Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider By Walker Smith, Chief Knowledge Officer, Brand & Marketing at Kantar
At The Blake Project, we help leaders turn brand into a disciplined driver of financial performance — strengthening pricing power, competitive position, and enterprise value. Email us to start a conversation about enduring profitable growth. For The EBITDA.
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