Companies today stand at the edge of a cliff. Their position is precarious because Marketing – the way companies create customers and enable sales – is being turned on its head like never before. No longer can companies rely wholly on the marketing messages they send out – and the way the public receives them: passively, co-operatively. People today are rejecting the notion of information forced down their throats, and assembling the reference points they want, from wherever they wish, whenever they like, in whatever form they choose. Increasingly, they are empowered to have more choices – and have the technology to enforce them. It’s the Age of User-Generated Media (UGM) – and it will profoundly impact the way products and services are sold and business is done… forever.