There's an adage that is an apt description of the new dynamic at work between brands and consumers connected through social media: People support what they help to build. But now that many brands are launching community-driven cause marketing campaigns the challenge becomes what to do next?

Suppliers and especially manufacturers have market power because they have information about a product or a service that the customer does not and cannot have and does not need if he can trust the brand. This explains the profitability of brands.

More brands are waking up to their social responsibility and doing good work through cause marketing campaigns. Yet too many still go about it the wrong way. I mean 'wrong' in two senses. Firstly they are marketing ineffectively and secondly as a consequence their positive social impact is not maximized.

We are looking to brands for poetry and for spirituality because we're not getting those things from our communities or from each other.

Brands mature over time like a marriage. The bond you feel with your spouse is different than when you first met each other. Excitement and discovery are replaced by comfort and depth.

I love to put on lotion. Sometimes I'll watch TV and go into a lotion trance for an hour. I try to find brands that don't taste bad in case anyone wants to taste me.

Let's hope brands recognize that the true power of this technology is not its reach but its ability to communicate substance that adds meaning to our lives. Otherwise brands will be investing in technology that consumers simply won't buy.

In fact I believe the first companies that make an effort to develop an authentic transparent and meaningful social contract with their fans and customers will turn out to be the ones that are the most successful in the future. While brands that refuse to make the effort will lose stature and customer loyalty.

'Survivor' wouldn't have happened had I not gone out there and helped CBS to sell sponsors to finance the first one. Part of my thinking on 'Survivor' was that it should have rewards that are corporate brands. A Big Mac one thimble-full of Coca-Cola.

Ultimately it's possible that social media platforms will be designed as templates that the users themselves customize in terms of the best way to express their community and experience of life and brands will have to simply follow suit.