Renée Dye

<article-ideainbrief class="article-ideainbrief">
 <h4 class="ideainbrief-title">The Idea in Brief</h4>
 <div class="ideainbrief-contents">
 What do Viagra, the new Volkswagen Beetle, Beanie Baby toys, and Harry Potter books have in common? They’re all commercial mega-successes driven by word of mouth, or buzz.
 Buzz erupts when people tell each other about favorable experiences, creating explosive, self-generating demand. Sound like sheer luck? Actually, you can exploit word of mouth—if you understand customer interaction and mutual influence.
 First step: Avoid five common myths about buzz. Fall victim to these misconceptions, and buzz just might exploit you.
 The Idea in Practice
 Five myths about buzz:
 1. Only outrageous products generate buzz.Reality: Buzz influences highly unlikely products in virtually all industries, as innovations like the Internet let customers quickly spread the word.
 Buzz-worthy products are:
 <ul>
 <li>unique in functionality, ease of use, or price (e.g., collapsible scooters)</li>
 </ul>
 <ul>
 <li>highly visible (e.g., PDA devices).</li>
 </ul>
 Example:&nbsp; 
 Drug-maker Pfizer popularized the medical terms “erectile dysfunction” and “ED,” transforming a taboo subject into fodder for bedroom and backyard converstion. Viagra’s now one of the most talked-about drugs ever—even among people who don’t use it. 
 2. Buzz just happens.Reality: Shrewd marketing creates buzz. Some powerful tactics:
 <ul>
 <li>Seed the vanguard—public-opinion shapers. Clothier Abercrombie &amp; Fitch employs popular college fraternity and sorority members. They wear and implicitly endorse its fashions—heightening other buyers’ sense of exclusivity.</li>
 </ul>
 <ul>
 <li>Ration supply. Volkswagen fueled desire for its retro Beetle by offering limited-edition models only online. Consumers grabbed half the supply in two weeks.</li>
 </ul>
 <ul>
 <li>Tap lists—and focus consumers’ attention.</li>
 </ul>
 Example:&nbsp; 
 When Modern Library listed the top 100 twentieth-century novels on its Web site, controversy over the selection process spawned 1,000+ editorials. It also vaulted several titles to Amazon.com’s bestseller rankings—and boosted Modern Library’s Web-site traffic 7,000%. 
 <ul>
 <li>Nurture your grass roots—loyal, early adopters who convert others.</li>
 </ul>
 Example:&nbsp; 
 Harley-Davidson averted near bankruptcy by tapping into customers’ loyalty—and rebel identity—through Harley Owners Group chapters, rallies, and newsletters. More than 350,000 owners in 1,000 chapters worldwide virtually saved the firm. 
 3. The best buzz-starters are your best customers.Reality: Ideal vanguards may surprise you. Clothing designer Tommy Hilfiger gave his brand street hipness by focusing on young, urban African-Americans. The clothes’ popularity spread to suburbia—attracting multiple ethnicities.
 4. To profit from buzz, you must act first.Reality: Copycat companies can benefit from buzz—by entering the market just as the trend heats up. Example:&nbsp; 
 Cosmetics giant Revlon, with its large, loyal customer base, successfully launched a funky nail-polish line after a similar craze created by a college student had gathered steam. Revlon saved considerable product-development time and money. 
 5. Media and advertising create buzz.Reality: Early, heavy promotion can annoy vanguards. Instead, get people talking about and visibly using your product. Example:&nbsp; 
 When free e-mail service Hotmail added “Get your free e-mail at Hotmail” to users’ outgoing e-mails, 12 million people signed up in 18 months —versus the six years it took AOL to amass that same number.
 </div>
</article-ideainbrief>Buzz is the stuff of marketing legends. Dark and witty Harry Potter, the traffic-stopping retro Beetle, the addictive Pokémon, cuddly Beanie Babies, the hair-raising Blair Witch Project—all are recent examples of blockbuster commercial successes driven by customer hype. For some reason, people like to share their experiences with one another—the restaurant where they ate lunch, the movie they saw over the weekend, the computer they just bought—and when those experiences are favorable, the recommendations can snowball, resulting in runaway success. But ask marketing managers about buzz, and many will simply shrug their shoulders. It’s just serendipity, they say, or sheer luck.

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The Buzz on Buzz

Word-of-mouth promotion has become an increasingly potent force, capable of catapulting products from obscurity into runaway commercial successes. But to harness the considerable power of buzz, companies must reject five common myths.

The Buzz on Buzz

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