Thierry Maillet

Thierry Maillet is specialized in marketing and created the marketing term 'Generation P', according to him represents the evolution from the consumption society to the participation society. Between 1994 and 2003 he founded two marketing consultancy bureaus, where Thierry Maillet advised the leading consumer goods and luxury goods business in France, Europe and the USA. He continued in delivering business advice by providing assistance and delivering lectures and seminars across the world. From 2005 till 2008 he was a columnist for 'Le Nouvel Economiste' and he now delivers seminars and doctoral education at the CERAM Business School in Nice and provides a Master course in Paris at the famous Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po).

Due to his many and wide experiences in different marketing sectors he became convinced that the apprehension of consumption from the traditional projection became increasingly costly and illusory. It was necessary to give greater emphasis to the relation between 'consumption' and 'citizenship'. Since 2001 this insight led to him to create the syllogism of 'consum-actors' that is now used to refer to what the citizens think of the act of consumption.

Since 2005 he researched the interaction between the companies and the citizens in a historic perspective at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) and published about the emergence of a participation society, consisting in both worlds of consumption and citizenship. His research work at the Laboratory for Historical Research (CHR) on the history of the organization styles concluded that these companies derive a major role of intermediary between civil society and doing business all along the entire 20th century. Thierry Maillet tries to establish that mediating companies are essential to fulfil the bridge between consumption and citizenship.

His book 'La Génération Participation: de la société de consommation à la société de participation' (Generation Participation: the consumer society to participation society) was published in 2006, a second edition in 2007 and a paperback version in 2008. He is currently working on a publication devoted to an analysis of the history of marketing and is due for late 2009.