Grocery stores and restaurants

I presented this question to a Dialogue hopeful and it’s gotten me thinking as well:

I see today’s digital space as both a channel (medium) and a platform. Where, Best Buy’s TWELPFORCE uses twitter as a medium, and Foursquare or Groupon use attributes of digital as the platform. Is this traditional agency thinking? How are you all defining the utility of digital? Or, are you defining it?

One end is constant, while the other is evolving and creative. Kind of like grocery stores and restaurants. Grocery stores are product, while restaurants use product to create. And then it goes in all sorts of directions. You could argue that some grocery stores are also creative and that some restaurants have a standard product. I suppose a good restaurant is run by a good chef- one who knows all about the base or products involved in making his/er food.

This, understanding which ingredients do what and the overall appeal of the restaurant, is what we’re after when we speak of utility in the digital space.