Marketers choose Word of Mouth

According to the Association of National Advertisers, which "includes 400 companies with 9,000 brands that collectively spend over $250 billion in marketing communications", social networking and word of mouth activities are likely to be increased by 26% in the current economic environment. When times are tough, results are more important than ever, and marketers seem to believe that they can find them in Word of Mouth.

To read the full results of the survey, please click here.

Best Buy marketing through Slideshare

Waouh! How suprised was I when I saw a slide presentation by Best Buy on Slideshare. It is written by a certain Gina, who according to her Twitter page is "Best Buy's Community Manager". It looks they are taking social media seriously...rightly so!

Best Buy (Community 2.0 Conference)

View more documents from Gina .

Social Media : why is it important?

What The F**K is Social Media?

View more presentations from Marta Kagan.

Kindle: using customers as sales rep.

How ingenious! The “See a Kindle in Your City” program is a daring move - when Amazon thinks it has such a cool electronic book that it can rely on its customers to be its best agents. It always makes me think of Apple as studying in advertising I saw some pretty hardcore fans - which you wouldn't even find at the store . Any, great word of mouth instutionalization!

UPS Widget

How cool and creative?! I love it. Great marketing. Check it by clicking here.

Word-of-Mouth in details

Check out this great post on the different branches of Word of Mouth :
# buzz
# viral marketing
# influencer marketing
# consumer generated media

Read more by clicking here.

Audi has its own TV

Audi has it's own TV. It sounds crazy that a car manufacturer is also a TV station...if you were living 100 years ago! Now it is more important than ever to communicate with all the possible channels that technology offers you.

20 years ago it was unimaginable to have a TV channels...now you and me can have one in live! (didn't know? check out Justin TV). Smart companies adapt to their environment and Audi seems to be on the right track! Maybe their slogan "Vorsprung durch technik" (advancement through technology) - has something to do with it.

Branded Entertainement startups

An Inc. slideshow on Branded Entertainement. Click here to view it. I strongly believe in the potential of that market. The accessability of media makes your campaign all the more easily viral if it is good!

The Institute for Human Continuity - great viral campaign!

I just saw the trailer of 2012, the next movie of Roland Emmerich. I love this creative idea to market a movie...check out the Institute for Human Continuity. A nice way to get your contact details!

The King of Pop, the King of Marketing...

Check out this great article on Michael Jackson's money. I must admit with one of the expert, that his brand was known worldwide - and actually I might add, that the brand gloably, especially in Asia was not that negative compared to the USA after his first scandal when he bought himself out of a trial. I was in Vietnam, and the only foreign artist some knew was Michael Jackson. That shows the talent he had to brand himself. It's crazy how it got a huge push in value after his death...could this great marketer have had guessed it?

Word Of Mouth: most trusted "media" in the UK

The most trusted form of media in the UK is word of mouth according to a new eMarketer study.

The Truth Behind Twitter

According to a Harvad Bususiness School study, 10% of users on Twitter produce 90% of the content. It is suprising but yet, I wonder if it is the equivalent in the real world, that is 10% of the population influences 90% of the population. And if that is the case, are they the same? If so, Twitter is worth gold!

Google TV - smart tool

Check out this great Inc. article on Google TV.

(I find it funny that it is the internet company that is helping tv companies' make money. I like this tool as it looks really great to make the most out of your advertising money)

Post-it Art

When your product is used as art, it looks great and it goes viral, what can you ask more as a marketer? Watch the following video:

(as a smart marketer, I would offer all arts school to supply their students with my products for free if they are used in a positive way)

MIT's Inventor of the Week

Click here and bookmark it to discover an inventor every week, brought to you by MIT. As a marketer, I don't think that it is a territory reserved by the geeks, but rather an inspiration for us all to push the limits of the standard way of thinking.

Crowdsourcing: here to stay

A very interesting Business Week article on crowdsourcing (17,000 answers on Starbuck's propriatory forum, LG paying $20,000 for design instead of millions...) and also raises questions (but finds no answers) to what will happen to creatives if companies directly ask the crowd to design and create their advertising, brochures or products?

Tupperware Party Re-Invented For Buzz

Check out this company called House Party. They are inspiring themselves from the Tupperware party to help brands generate buzz through a 1,000 house parties on the same day (strong argument being that the ambassadors is not a sales rep paid on commission). Who said Tupperware Party weren't adaptable for other purposes?

www.veryfunnyads.com - it's great!

Check out http://www.veryfunnyads.com/

(the domaine name says it all)

Ranking Ranqueen : Bestsellers Only

Check out this concept out. They only offer bestsellers for sales. It allows clients to saves time - one of the ways of making money because they rarely say no to a solution to save time in our modern busy lives! Check out the site here.

Organizing raffles to sell your unsold goods

Raffles started with the real estate crash when developpers had to find with innovative ways buyers for their appartments. You could Win a London Pad. Now you can not only win a new home, but also a new lifestyle.