• by Jon Bond , Op-Ed Contributor, December 13, 2013

In the 80s, when it seemed everyone was a day trader, investment terminology became common in all kinds of conversations, even if you didn't work on Wall Street. Everyone it seemed was an investment expert.

In the 2010s, however everyone is suddenly a branding, advertising and marketing expert. And the product they are marketing? Themselves. Social media has made marketing a basic life skill akin to learning how to balance a checkbook or drive a car.

What's my Facebook page look like?

Which channels should I be using to reach my target, and for what purpose? What marketplace feedback am I getting on my messaging? Should I use film to tell my story? (I of course know how to shoot and edit my own film).  What metrics am I using to evaluate success? (Likes, engagement, number of fans and followers, being unfollowed after making a post, etc.)

I find that as a result of living this process on a daily basis, the average 22-year-old knows a lot about marketing.

So how does this increased sophistication impact the way we market to people, especially young people?  It means we have to acknowledge and respect their savvy. David Ogilvy famously wrote "the consumer is not a moron, she is your wife."  Today I might alter that to, "The consumer is not a moron; she is your 17- year-old daughter on social media six hours a day."

David Ogilvy's housewife may have watched a lot of TV, and been a discriminating shopper, but that didn't mean she was an expert on how to make those same commercials. What's different today is your 17-year-old daughter is an expert on how to make social media content, because she does it every day, and gets instantaneous feedback from her social graph.

With all of this marketing talent flowering around us, you’d think we'd be able to reverse the talent drain out of the ad business. They are coming out of school with better skills than any generation before.

Let's not let them get away this time.