02 May 2008

Smart or Sneaky?

I gave half-a-webinar a few weeks ago, sharing the virtual stage with my good friend John Migliaccio, Director of Research for The MetLife Mature Market Institute. The webinar was produced by IMMN.

It went very well. For a rundown and opinions, Carol Orsborn of FH BOOM blogged it in two installments:
Vintage Word-of-Mouth

Future Firestorm
I've blabbed about WOMM many times. So have a ton of others. But I have to say - the best thing I've ever read on the subject wasn't by an expert or pundit (or Yours Truly). It was an article in last month's Homemakers Magazine. A real life story - both funny and revealing:
Word-of-mouth marketing -- Smart or sneaky?

Getting free products is easy when you're a buzz marketer but can word-of-mouth marketing damage relationships? You decide.
By Bonnie Staring

People have always talked about the things they use, recommending (or dissing) products and services. It's called word of mouth, and advertisers have always known that it's the best kind of marketing their product could have, but they've never tried to control it. Until now.
I'll repeat something I said in my webinar, in my book, on this blog:
When it all comes out in the wash, WOMM will be the best thing to happen to (silly retronym ahead) traditional advertising. Pretty soon, consumers won't believe anybody - even their best friends. They'll realize that they receive the most honest and straightforward information about a product or service from a TV commercial, radio spot, print ad, direct marketing collateral, or product web site. At least we don't lie about who we are and why we're saying what we're saying.

Remember this: Advertising didn't die with the invention of the telephone.

Paramount Books' Spring Offerings

Paramount Books (my publisher) has uploaded their new Spring Catalog (PDF). Lots of interesting-looking books listed, including one I liked a lot.

Mine's in there somewhere.

01 May 2008

Life would be very strange if ...

I do the Facebook, MySpace, Twitter things mostly to keep up with what's going on out here in the ether. I'm not sure they'll last - or at least be as popular and influential for very much longer. They get boring, repetitive. When you get older, you have better things to do. And most young folks eventually get older, and are replaced by even younger folks who'll find other crazy things to do that'll be fun and exciting for them, so ....

Steve Hall of AdRants and AdGabber blogged this video produced by a young comedy group in England. What if real life were like Facebook? It got me laughing:

26 April 2008

Beers and Innovation: Coming of Age

Hi Chuck

I thought you would be interested to hear about the upcoming NMK (New Media Knowledge) Coming of Age event on Tuesday 27th May 2008 in London, UK, as it focuses on communicating with, and creating content and websites for, the mature market online. We’d be very pleased for you to mention it on your blog if you think it’s appropriate ....

For full details, speaker information and booking, visit:
Beers and Innovation: Coming of Age


Elizabeth

Elizabeth Varley
Events Consultant
NMK
www.nmk.co.uk

Elizabeth -

.... Sure, I'll mention it. I know Dick Stroud, and Kevin Lavery of Millennium. I spent some time with them last year in England while on a speaking/consulting tour. Before that, we'd met in New York and Chicago, respectively.

Chuck
**********
I might've called it Warm Beers & Bloviators. (Just kidding, my friends across the pond ...) I wish I were going - and bloviating. And drinking.