All Roads Lead to Choice. Consumers are demanding—and receiving—more control than ever before. Don’t want to watch TV commercials? Get DVR. Don’t want to hear radio ads? Use your MP3 player. Don’t want to be hit up by a better long distance carrier? Put your name on the no-call list.

With everything from mobile advertising to declaring you’re a fan of Culver’s custard to “elfing yourself” right into your friends’ in-boxes, consumers have been going cuckoo for control.

Now more than ever, the life and death of your brand rests with consumers. Do? Don’t? Will? Won’t? Yes? No? Essentially, the questions to ask are: Does your brand have an idea? Will Joe and Jane care enough to invite you into their lives? And can you deliver the interesting and intriguing content to the right place at the right time?

News flash: This isn’t news. But it does matter more with each passing minute. So the question becomes: What are you going to do about it?