The digital revolution will not be televised. But if it is to succeed, Wenda Harris Millard says marketers must accept the idea of a shared space where consumers have control.

The distinction between ads and content has never been so blurred, as marketers work feverishly to up the ante on their creatives, blending a brand message with substantive entertainment. But with a full-fledged revolution underway, one of the agents of that metamorphosis took time out to examine the critical question of how we got to this point.

"At the beginning of the internet revolution, we talked a lot about consumer control," Wenda Harris Millard, president of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, told attendees at the iMedia Brand Summit in Coconut Point, Fla. "We thought of consumers gaining control as programmers, deciding when they would consume content, but we didn't take it nearly far enough; we didn't think the user would become the producer and distributor of content."

According to Millard, who previously ran sales at Yahoo, that revolution has put the consumer squarely in the driver's seat, with marketers, brands and agencies searching for ways to keep pace.

Wenda Harris Millard is president, media, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and former chief sales officer at Yahoo.

"The shift in control has caused a profound shift in rules," Millard said. "The marketing process is in a static state in the middle of a dynamic process, where the consumer is ahead of the marketer. Like all revolutions, this one is about control, and here consumers are calling the shots."

While some may take a bleak view of such a consumer-driven world, Millard points to the opportunities in digital available to marketers who are willing to accept the idea of sharing the space with consumers.

To better explain the notion of a shared media environment -- not one readily accepted by many traditional marketers -- Millard joked with the crowd, playing off the name of the leading social network when she said, "my space is your space. 

"We once thought of things like consumer feedback as nice-to-have kind of statistics, now they are highly prized," Millard said.

But that reshuffled media landscape, with the consumer at the center of the action, has sent shockwaves through the industry, and according to Millard, 2008 will be even more "hair-raising and volatile than 2007."

One strange result from the industry-wide shakeups, according to Millard, is that many media companies are becoming agencies, brands are becoming media companies and agencies are becoming technology companies. That reality prompted Millard to ask the crowd, "who's on first?" in reference to the famous Abbott and Costello routine that came to symbolize confusion for an entire generation.

According to Millard, the level of confusion and complexity that has come to characterize the space has made for seemingly strange alliances, where competitors that once operated across strict boundaries have now found themselves in business together.

While that confusion may seem daunting -- Millard noted that CMO may soon just as well stand for chief complexity officer -- the task of those at the forefront of the digital revolution will be to make certain that progress comes from what may look like chaos.

"We are the leaders of the digital revolution," Millard said. "And while we are not going to slow down the pace of change, we must figure out how to do the things that matter like measuring the impact of ads, marketing intelligently across platforms and seeking to understand and communicate the value of our space."

To lead both the digital space and the marketing world forward, Millard challenged those in the room to make certain that control of the industry doesn't vest in the hands of those who merely negotiate price, saying that "we must distinguish between quality and commodity in the space.

"We have the opportunity to take leadership in this world," Millard said. "But to do that, we must lead the revolution by staying laser-focused on connecting marketers to consumers. We must create messages that resonate, video that is more viable in online than it is today and figure out how to leverage the growing power of mobile."

Michael Estrin is associate editor at iMediaConnection. Read full bio.