T3 is independent and proud of it.

Today marks our official year end. The day we close our books and prepare for the coming year. It’s been a challenging year for everyone and for pretty much every company. It’s also a year that marks our 20th anniversary (celebrated in March). Bring these two story lines crashing together and the result is a certain amount of reflection—on where we’ve been, where’s we’re going and the fiercely independent streak that makes us who we are.

In a world of agencies that operate under the aegis of huge holding companies, we celebrate independence because we know that it frees us to focus on what really matters, and to create solutions without the bias a holding company might put on its teams, unwittingly or not.

Much of what independence brings is an intangible ability to do what’s right for the client.

Independence shows up when we successfully pull resources together over three offices in a marathon day to hit a deadline or take an idea to the next level. It shows up in the fact that there’s no red tape to get in the way of us hitting yet another ridiculously quick deadline. It shows up in our ability to scale and hit the ground running. It shows up in account teams that are empowered to make decisions, like staffing based on client need, and the ability to make exceptions in billing, timelines and process to make sure what needs to get done happens. It shows up in unique insights that we cull from virtual brainstorming on our Intranet.

It shows up in being accountable to just our clients and to each other, and not by a board of directors in a faraway land.

Independence alone means little if it’s not applied to good effect. At T3, we know clients appreciate everything we bring to the table as an independent agency—all the little details that flow from our flexibility and autonomy. They tell us it’s what they love about us. And it’s what they’ll always get from us.

It took a client to write the headline for us: “Can we clone you, please.”

Editor’s note: T3 looks forward to 2010 in a series of blog posts that offer insight on marketing trends over the next year.

In five years we’ll know whether our current recession is a defining moment for our consumer-driven society. Fortunately, it seems that it will not rank as another Depression, but I think that it will have a more lasting impact than the dot-com bust—altering consumer behavior and the role of marketing.

I think the world has suffered from an economic heart attack—painful, serious and treated through extreme measures. For some consumers, recovery is underway. Others are now cautiously optimistic. But for many, recovery will be unpredictable.

The result? The Boomer, Me, X and Millennial generations may have just morphed into a new Cautionary Generation.

A generation of savers. A generation committed to using less. A generation who now associates the amassing of stuff with the loss of financial cushions, secure retirement or the ability to pay their mortgage.

In April, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke spoke of “green shoots.” In September, President Obama said “we can be confident that the storms of the past two years are beginning to break.” Broad consumer confidence indexes have shown recent gains. Other forecasts project a more positive outlook for 2010, yet those same reports show job growth lagging. Even as stocks climb back, I sense that people are still bracing for another unexpected dip.

While there are hopeful signs, true recovery will be highly personal and impossible to time on a mass scale. Those who feel they survived the economic heart attack are likely to go into an aggressive form of preventative maintenance, with no back sliding on bad spending habits.

People have learned that they can do without and live happily. They’ve rediscovered coupons, soup and board games. They’ve learned the discipline of thinking twice, three or four times before making purchases. They’ve learned to research and shop and bargain.

Consumers have widened their consideration set, looking for lower-cost options, as well as brands that deliver more for the dollar. They’ve learned that brands must hold value beyond the name and cachet. Just as geeks are chic, so is being frugal—even flat-out “cheap.” Hyundai, Dunkin’ Donuts and Wal-Mart are some of the brands aligned with the new cautionary generation.

Smart marketing is always about context. In the context of the past year, do people even want to view themselves as consumers right now? Do you? People would rather be seen as providers, decision-makers or smart shoppers. The conventional definition of marketing should be recast, as well.

In 2010, consumer caution will persist. As a result, companies should provide people with information to make better decisions, appreciating that purchases may now come when people need stuff (and not just want stuff). They should look at content to support the long-term value of their brands, as well as points of relevant differentiation—time savings, ease-of-use and design.

Companies should look into their databases (or across the counters of their small businesses) and reach out to thank the people who have remained customers over the past year. At the same time, they should continue to invest in ideas, products and programs that delight these customers and get them talking to their friends, in person and digitally.

In a Special Report published in April, The Economist looked ahead and saw that “In the next couple of years the businesses that thrive will be those that are miserly with costs, wary of debt, cautious with cashflow and obsessively attentive to what customers want.”

If these companies turn a mirror to their customers and prospects, they may see the exact same traits.

In a moment of weakness, I volunteered to sit on the local school PTA board.

With an intro like that, this blog can go so many different directions, right?  Here’s where I’m going: we all live in the interactive space 24/7/365, but not everyone is dedicated to checking Facebook religiously.

This brings me back to the PTA.  

You would assume that this group would find the value in a social networking solution. Granted, I was suggesting Ning, a private social network. But my recommendation didn’t go over well even though I set it up and taught folks how to use it. For some reason, this group believes a flurry of reply-all e-mails among 25 people is a better communications solution than posting a message in one place, one time. 

Mindboggling, but I think I found the reason for this madness in Forrester’s recent report, The State of Consumers and Technology: Benchmark 2009.

According to Forrester’s research, younger folks (those under 40) still remain the biggest users and contributors to social networking sites. More than a quarter of young singles, couples and families consider their role with social networks to be what Forrester terms “creators.” In addition, one out of every five is a “critic,” offering up reviews and recommendations.

In contrast, social networkers over 40 tend to fall into the “spectator” group. Nearly a quarter identify themselves as “joiners,” meaning they may visit social networking sites and even maintain a profile, but they don’t actively create new content. Their level of participation on the spectrum of social network usage pales in comparison to the under-40 crowd.

So scroll back to the second paragraph, where I confidently stated, “We all live in the interactive space 24/7/365.” Let me amend that.

The reality is that people live in the interactive space their way. For some, social sites like Facebook are still places to visit and observe, but not completely participate. Basic digital tools like e-mail chains, so passé for us Facebook/Twitter/Ning-leaning netizens, are primary communications tools for others — including my new PTA friends, many of whom are over 40 (sorry ladies).

My PTA experience has reminded me of the need to take the ultimate “consumer” into consideration before selecting a communications vehicle. Sometimes, old school may be the smarter option, in spite of your affinity for new school thinking.