CM’s rich mixture of integrated media, coupled with its ability to offer users a high degree of choice in how they interact with the resource, creates a powerfully captivating consumer experience. CM resources draw in users by giving them unique, self-directed “voyages of discovery” in an engaging, immersive environment that encourages personal exploration.

Although more than 200 million iPads and 250 million tablets are in use worldwide, and about 200 million smartphones are in use in the United States alone, true cm resources are virtually non-existent, especially in the adult market. This despite the most recent Nielsen U.S. Digital Consumer report, which says, “The number of digital devices and platforms available to today’s consumers has exploded in recent years. As a result, today’s consumer is more connected than ever, with more access to and deeper engagement with content and brands. And these changes are contributing to the media revolution and blurring traditional media definitions. Americans now own four digital devices on average, and the average U.S. consumer spends 60 hours a week consuming content across devices. . . . In addition to more devices, consumers also have more choices for how and when they access content.”

All of this creates a vast opportunity to create an assortment of compelling cm resources targeting specific (and enormous) audiences, all of them thirsting for a true cm experience.

Because the iPad didn’t come out until 2010, cm is essentially a new communication vehicle. But once consumers see what it can do, almost universally they react with shrieks of delight. Huge numbers of consumers already own a device capable of delivering a potent cm experience; when they see for themselves the new and exciting resources cm makes possible (particularly when those resources focus on high-interest topics), enthusiasm naturally erupts.

Consumers spend billions of dollars each year on entertainment—on having fun—and CM can deliver fun and entertaining features in countless ways, making the whole experience so enjoyable they want to repeat it again and again. The mix of media types provides rich, fertile soil for growing an enchanting kind of entertainment that can become almost addictive.

CM is almost infinitely malleable, adaptable, versatile, shapeshifting. Rubbery, in other words. A movie is just a movie. A book is just a book. A song is just a song. But CM can combine various media in as many ways as the audience desires and the needs of the product require. This means there is no standard “template” for how a cm resource will look or can function. Any medium might take the lead in any given resource—text, video, even games—depending on the nature of the audience and the purpose of the resource. The opportunity for experimentation and special interest crafting is virtually limitless.

Because CM resources are digital, they can be instantly accessed anywhere on the globe. They do not require warehousing, shipping, or a physical company presence in the markets where they are sold. They also can be created remotely for specific markets and purposes, anywhere on the planet. They can go global immediately on release.

CM has the muscle to create resources with vast educational potential, since it can be tailored for various learning styles (e.g., visual, kinesthetic, aural) and designed to engage students in active learning. Students who grow bored with traditional resources are not likely to learn the content featured in those resources; but an engaged student is far more likely to interact with the content long enough to absorb it.

While CM resources can be developed to reach massive, general audiences, CM also is extremely well suited for capturing the interest of large, niche audiences—the kind of audiences that often feel ignored or even shunned by more traditional media providers. From private pilots to those suffering from gluten intolerance, from cat lovers to rabid fans of motorcycles (or even more narrowly, lovers of Harley Davidsons)—CM resources can be narrowly targeted at niche audiences and deliver to them an experience they never dared imagine. And the more intense the fan interest, the higher the market penetration is likely to be: “You have got to see this!”

The time for CM has come. The technology exists. The audiences exist. The expertise to effectively create it exists. There is no compelling reason to wait. The time has come. Waiting will only allow others to seize this unique moment in time.