"There's some deep-seated hunger in people for a difference from what mass media has delivered," Locke says. "What is the salient thing that the Internet does from a marketing perspective? People online get smarter. Markets are getting smarter, faster than companies." Translation: Old tricks don't work. "Companies say, 'Hey, this is our latest server, it does x, y, z.' The marketplace is out there deconstructing those statements before the ink's dry on the press release." Markets are conversations, and there's no substitute for genuine human interaction. "You've got this network of hundreds of millions of people. What they recognize and respond to is each other. They don't respond to broadcast advertising and formal corporate communications." Are there any companies that get it? "A surprising one: Ford Motor Company came out and said, 'We're giving PCs and Internet connections to 350,000 of our workers worldwide.' Not to go out and be PR people, but to connect with the marketplace. I think the dynamics of those interactions are going to get very, very interesting."