One of my favorite site, The Consumerist, has long been the bastion for frustrated consumers to hold companies accountable for their bad behavior. The interesting aspect of sites such as The Consumerist, is that they bring together consumers in such a way that demands attention. Two announcements today (as well as one a few weeks ago when Netflix chose to keep the profile feature) further demonstrate what recent YG survey data has shown, early adopters can create or kill a market/company/product.

1. Rogers backs down.  Rogers, which stirred up a storm with its iPhone pricing had every right to charge whatever it wanted for the iPhone - and people still would have bought it. However,  many consumers vowed not to buy the product which pulled Apple into the maelstrom of negative publicity and Rogers relented by dropping the price. So powerful are Anywhere Consumers that before even realeasing a product, Rogers had to back down and offer a more attractive package to consumers, even if they are only doing it in a promotional manner.

2. Charter Renegs. After having a contest that offered a 65″ TV, Charter refused to deliver the goods to the winner. While this issue remains unresolved at this time, (Charter has offered two smaller TVs) in the consumer empowered world of today one must wonder how long it is until the ngative PR finally engulfs Charter and they are forced to make good. With AT&T, Verizon, Dish, DirecTV, and other SPs antsy to pick off their subscribers bad PR could result in a door opening for Charter’s competitors.

Individuals have historically been challenged to force change, but as a group consumers can accomplish Herculean tasks. This is the promise and the threat of the market leaders known as the Anywhere Consumers. They have major sway over those that adopt after them and with the ubiquity of consumer sites available, user reviews on sites, and a peer group looking to them for buying advice -  failure to meet their needs will require companies to change as Rogers did or suffer the consequences of bad publicity. With increasing choice and ease of finding alternatives available everyday it would be wise for companies to please these early adopters (and all consumers in general) or suffer the consequences later.