The Buzz About Buzz Marketing

The Buzz about BUZZ Marketing
Executive Summary
What is your opinion on the reservation issue? Do you think the
Da Vinci
Code should be banned? Such topics are very often discussed in coffee shops,
canteens, offices, just about anywhere. So what are these conversations sensationally
doing? They are creating buzz about a particular issue. Whether it is the Digen Verma
campaign which took place a few years back or the Balbir Pasha Aids campaign all
these were trying to create buzz or the recent Idea Cellular campaign hoardings that
we see every where. So why is buzz marketing suddenly gaining so much popularity
among marketers? The answer is that today the consumers are bombarded with a
clutter of advertisement everyday and it is impossible for them to recall all of these.
Sure there are advertisements like Surf Excels Daag ache hain or Aamir Khans
series of coke ads; however in todays competitive world marketers have to do more
to capture the consumers mind space.
Moreover Gen X has lost all its trust in the traditional media channels, due to
its lack of credibility, therefore the marketers have to turn to more innovative ways of
marketing their products. The answer lies in buzz marketing or more commonly
known as word of mouth marketing or viral marketing. Mankind has for long been
fascinated with the art of story telling. Stories have been passed on from generation to
generation to retain essence. This is what a marketer must attempt to do in buzz
marketing. Buzz marketing work on the principle of pull strategy rather than the
push strategy.
The brand must form a space in the sub conscious mind of the consumer. The
trick is marketing through the customers themselves who act as unpaid salesmen.
Buzz marketing is contagious, but it is usually spread with purpose. It attempts to
make each encounter with a consumer feel and appear to be a completely spontaneous
and unique personal exchange of information, rather than some form of advertising. In
other words these consumers become opinion leaders and suggest a product to their
friends, relatives, colleagues etc and the chain goes on. This form of marketing is
somehow the cheapest and probably the one of the oldest. It can even be said that
Christopher Columbus advertised America by word of mouth or the East India
Company advertised India to England by word of mouth.
More recently we can look at two websites who used buzz marketing, Google and
Hotmail. Google did no advertising, they spent no money. They created scarcity
by giving out only a few Gmail accounts to power users. Other users who
aspired to be like these power users lusted for a G.mail account and this
manifested itself in their bidding for G.mail invites at EBay. Demand was created
by limited supply; the catched of having a Gmail account created word of mouth
rather than any marketing activities. Another example would be the Balbir
Pasha campaign Will Balbir Pasha get AIDS, this tagline was a part of a
cleverly created teaser campaign that aimed at combating AIDS breaking
through the clutter of advertising in Mumbai. It served to build intrigue, running
over various media channels, depicting typical Mumbai lower and middle income
men asking each other the following question Will Balbir Pasha get AIDS? The
very tagline was often repeated by the public, by a few out of outrageousness of
the campaign, by the others out of mere curiosity as to what the teaser was all
about. A low-cost mechanism built around a story was helping the cause of the
agency.
The buzz about buzz marketing is analogous to the hype that surrounded the
internet in the late 1990s, when so many companies mistook the web and its
technology for a new business strategy instead of a sales and information channel
which it is. Once set on strategy tactic comes into play. There is a role for buzz both in
skimming and penetration strategies. But buzz should be combined by other forms of
marketing to create a pattern of tactics which support the overall strategy. According
to marketing professor David Bell, the buzz effect is most prominent the first time a
consumer tries a product.For some buzz marketing not only just raises strategy
questions but ethical issues as well. In most cases when marketers talk about buzz
marketing agents they mean regular citizen who have volunteered to be product
guinea pigs-people who get products in advance of their release to the general public
in exchange for a promise to talk them up if they like the product and provide
feedback to the company as to what others think. Sometimes however marketers blur
these lines in efforts to, hiring actors to pose as average people, similar to what Sony
Ericson did to promote one of its digital cameras. Actions like these pose the question
whether there is something inherently unethical about buzz marketing itself.
According to some professors, they dont see anything wrong in buzz marketing as
long as the company provides the product to the person and that person is totally
independent in saying whatever they feel about the product to the customer. If people
are favorable about the company then they are not allowed to express themselves.
In the end its all about cutting through the clutter. Then it will be about
whoever has the most unique or effective campaign, whether its a buzz campaign or
not. Its about what works and what doesnt. They rest is just noise.
What is BUZZ Marketing

Buzz marketing is word of mouth managed. It is a term used in the marketing
industry to describe activities that companies do to generate favorable word of mouth
publicity about products and services Buzz marketing is about consumerspresent
and potentialtalking and discussing about a brand by word of mouth (WOM)
leading to its purchase and sales. It is about the excitement created around the brand
on its virtues, and recommended to others.
Origin of Word of Mouth

Word-of-mouth communications is as old as humankind. In the Garden of
Eden, after Eve tasted the forbidden fruit, she strongly recommended Adam to take a
bite. Eves insinuations stirred up in Adams heart an irresistible temptation, which led
him to try the fruit himself. And thus was set in motion the first ever word-of-mouth
phenomenon. Word-of-mouth communications is as old as humankind. In the Garden
of Eden, after Eve tasted the forbidden fruit, she strongly recommended Adam to take
a bite. Eves insinuations stirred up in Adams heart an irresistible temptation, which
led him to try the fruit himself. And thus was set in motion the first ever word-ofmouth phenomenon. Word-of-mouth communications is as old as humankind.
In the Garden of Eden, after Eve tasted the forbidden fruit, she strongly
recommended Adam to take a bite. Eves insinuations stirred up in Adams heart an
irresistible temptation, which led him to try the fruit himself. And thus was set in
motion the first ever word-of-mouth phenomenon.
Need for Increased importance of Buzz

NOISE:
Customers can hardly hear you: There is too much noise. Today the customer
is subjected to information overloaded: A weekly edition of The New York Times
contains more information than an average person was likely to come across in the
seventeenth century .In addition to editorial information the customer is exposed to an
avalanche of commercial messages. Advertising experts estimate that each customer
may be exposed to more than fifteen hundred ads every day. To protect themselves
customers filter out most of the messages they are exposed to from the mass media.
They do, however, listen to their friends.
SKEPTICISIM:
Most customers share a similar sense of skepticism. According to a survey
only 37% of the public considers information that comes from television commercials
very or somewhat believable. On recounting their experiences most customers have
felt misled or disappointed by advertisements. This has led the customer to become
skeptical and trying out new products. Customers form their opinion on experiences
and not advertisements.
CUSTOMERS ARE CONNECTED:

The third and the most dramatic reason for the rise of importance of invisible
networks is that customers have found new tools of sharing information. Customers
have always talked to each other, but now, technology and the Internet has made
giving and receiving advice easier. Its as simple as typing a sentence and sending it
off into cyberspace. What camera should I buy? one customer asks and provokes a
heated discussion on one newsgroup. Should I get DVD? another customer asks on
a different forum.
CUSTOMERS AS DISTRIBUTORS:
Customers have means of distributing they didnt before- digital cameras, the
web, editing software etc.
HOW IMPORTANT IS BUZZ TO A BUSINESS?

Buzz doesnt affect all business the same way. The role it plays in a business
depends on four factors:
1. Nature of the product
2. The target group
3. Customer Connectivity
4. Marketing strategies used in the industry
Nature of the Product

Some products do not tend to discussion. Paper clips for example will not
generate much buzz whatever you do. Theyre cheap, theyre simple, and theres
nothing new about them. This last point is the key. When paper clips were new, during
the second half of the nineteenth century, people talked about them more than they do
now, much in the same way people talk about post its notes when they came out. How
much new information is attached to a product or to a whole product category is the
key to predicting how much buzz it will get. The excitement is higher in the days of
the category release and so aware the price risks and uncertainties. Over the years, as
novelty wears off, as the product becomes much simpler and the monetary risk is
lower, people still talk about it-just not as much. This is a natural process that
accompanies the life cycle of each product.
So what kind of products do people talk about? Products that somehow create
high involvement of customers:
CONVERSATION PRODUCTS:
The following product categories are
the ones people tend to talk bout:
EXCITING PRODUCTS:
Such as books, movies, music. Customers say things like I fell in love with
it or it grabbed me to describe their first encounter with certain products they later
talked about.
INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS:
People talk about them both because these products may provide new benefits
and because people are impressed with their creators. The early web browsers
MOSAIC and later NETSCAPE generated a lot of buzz because people saw the
usefulness of these tools and admired the creativity of the people who invented them.
Another recent example would be the I-POD.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE PRODUCTS:

When personal experiences are used to assess the product and especially the
SERVICES in this category, buzz can be expected to fall in his category
Examples: Books, Restaurants, Airlines, Cars
COMPLEX PRODUCTS:
Like software and medical devices. When people dont understand products
they have to talk in order to make sense of them.
OBSERVABLE PRODUCTS:
People tend to talk about what they see. When products are invisible to people
,they are less likely to discuss them.
CONTAGIOUS PRODUCTS:
The best buzz comes not from PR campaigns or advertising but rather from
attributes inherent to the product itself. This is ground zero for any buzz campaign and
such products n be grouped as follows:
PRODUCTS THAT EVOKE AN EMOTIONAL RESPONSE:

E.G: THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT: The buzz for this movie was
driven by the fear the movie evoked in the viewers .people believed that what they
were seeing on screen was actual footage taken by students who disappeared in the
forest.
PRODUCTS THAT SELL THEMSELVES:

E.G: BEANIE BABIES
E.G: APPLE Imac: If the design looks different, the product itself can stir
conversation and advertise itself
PRODUCTS THAT LEAVE TRACES:

E.G: KODAK CAMERA: The products that is the photos were designed to be
shown to family and friends
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THE PEOPLE YOU ARE TRYING TO REACH

The Second factor in determing the importance of buzz in your business is you
target audience and the people you are trying to reach.For example people in rural
areas rely more on referrals and opinion and opinion leaders than advertising and
media. Scientist and doctors rely on word of mouth for research equipments, new
technologies. Word of mouth exists in all communities .Only the level of buzz differs.
CUSTOMER CONNECTIVITY
The more your customers are connected to each other, the more you depend on
buzz for future business. An example would be GMAIL who heavily relies on its
customer base .The company started by word of mouth. There was no advertising.
What this connectivity means that the company has to be very open with their
customers. If they screw up the customer comes to know immediately. The
importance of high quality products and service increases and the cumulative
customer satisfaction becomes critical.
COMPANY-CISCO
CISCO sells hardware devices which have glued the internet together. Its
customers are network admistrators and information technology managers. All these
customers are heavy users on the internet. Since 1984, buzz about Cisco has been
spreading relentlessly on the net. Several Internet newsgroups are dedicated to Ciscos
products,
John Chambers, president and CEO of the multibillion dollar company, spends
much of his time visiting customers. Religiously, John comes to visit me here in New
York once a quarter, one customer told New York Times. Other companies say, we
listen to the customer, but you dont often get the CEO sitting down with you like
that. The guy really is listening to the market.
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MARKETING STRATEGY
Your marketing strategy and that of your competitors may affect the degree to
which you rely on buzz. Central purchases for example may reduce the dependence
on word of mouth.
PEPSI
If Pepsi cuts a deal with a high school to have only Pepsi vending machines on
campus, it cuts the need generate buzz. However in most cases you can reduce your
reliance on buzz only to a limited extent. If you market a conversation product people
will talk about it, even if the purchasing was done centrally. Kids still talking about
which soft drink is the best even if the vending machines in their school are loaded
with Pepsi
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Case Study
JASSI JAISSI KOI NAHIN?
THE INDIAN TELEVISION INDUSTRY HAS SEEN AN EXPONENTIAL

GROWTH SINCE SATELLITE TELEVISION FIRST CAME TO INDIA
Today, though cable penetration is only about 50 per cent (according to
various industry estimates), this class of people is defined as the consuming class in
India. By 2002, the share of cable & satellite television was 86.9 per cent of total
television advertising as against a meagre 31.3 per cent in 1994.
Hindi general entertainment television is the fuel for growth in the television
industry with a 46.8 per cent share of total viewership and an even higher 57.4 per
cent share of total advertising revenue. Sony Entertainment Television is a key player
in this space and has been a consistent and strong number two behind Star Plus, which
has been the undisputed leader since July 2000.
In India most homes are single TV homes. Hindi is the preferred language for
consuming entertainment across India (except the four Southern states) and that
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makes Hindi General Entertainment Television an intensely competitive space. It
consists of five players. Star Plus has been the undisputed leader since July 2000 and
has significantly consolidated its position thereafter.
In September 2003, Star Plus had nearly five times as much viewership of its
nearest rival Sony Entertainment Television. The other contenders are Zee TV, Sahara
TV and SAB TV. The key factor is that in primetime (and specifically in the 9-10 pm
band) which is the focus of this case, the female influences the choice of channel to
view.
BUSINESS CHALLENGE
Star Plus with original programming from 7:30 pm to 11:30 pm at night has
successfully funnelled audiences from one show to another and has today a strong
loyal base of viewers. In contrast, Sony Entertainment Television has more
appointment viewing wherein viewers come in for a select show, and tune out. Sony
Entertainment Television dominated the 9-10 pm band, with two of its leading shows,
Kkusum and Kutumb up until mid 2002 after which the 4 daily shows of Star Plus
took over. Despite several high profile attempts to regain lost audiences, Sony
Entertainment Televisions share in this band continued to erode. Star Plus had
established a clear dominance over Sony Entertainment Television. (Star Plus average
range of Television Ratings (TVRs) approx 13.2 TVRs, as compared to Sony
Entertainment Televisions 1.3 TVRs). Besides, Sony Entertainment Television was
now perceived as a me-too to Star Plus
UNDERSTANDING WOMEN
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Sony Entertainment Television commissioned research among women, the
primary target audience for the channel. The research Understanding the woman
conducted in seven cities across India provided insights, which helped define its
content/programming strategy, which is: To provide intelligent and innovative
entertainment to its viewers.
The research threw up some startling trends and insights. One key insight was
The birth of the woman as a strategist. Todays women have solutions in their
grasp all the time - be it at home or outside at work. These women are educated,
modern housewives who easily identify with the working, real woman who strive to
make it in the world out there. These women were looking for something different
(yet relatable) from the routine kitchen politics that dominated television
programming.
The challenge therefore was to create and sell a distinct viewing alternative,
going beyond the clichd family dramas with storylines revolving around family
conflicts and kitchen politics which is the predominant fare on general entertainment
channels today.
DEFINING OUR TARGET AUDIENCE

While the aggregate Target Audience would be all individuals belonging to
SEC ABC, 25-34 years from C&S homes, the bulls eye TG was narrowed down to
Mrs. Tanushree Salve residing in suburban Mumbai, SEC A, well educated, married
and has two children. While she may be a homemaker, she is well aware of the world
outside and sees TV as a window to it.
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PRODUCT OFFERING
The product offering Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin, true to its title, has a truly
unique protagonist in Jassi. She is a less than ordinary looking Plain Jane, trying to
make her way in a world where good looks and glamour matter more than they
should.
Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin is an adaptation of the hit Colombian series Yo Soy
Betty La Fea (I am Betty the ugly one). The original Columbian Telenovella was a
rage in Columbia and 25 countries around the world. In India however, we would
recreate the serial unlike all other markets where it was merely dubbed or subtitled.
MARKETING OBJECTIVES
To drive sampling for the time slot and build reach in the shortest possible
time
o Slot reach prior ty
To grow channel share in terms of average TVRs as well as Audience
Preference Indexes
o Star was dominant here with Average TVRs 10 times that of Sony
Entertainment Television
To get Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin into the top ranked shows on Indian Television
o Currently Star Plus dominates the list of top 50 shows
To create hype around the launch in a manner as non-conventional as the serial
To break the mould in terms of positioning of the serial and thus the channel
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THE MARKETING CHALLENGE

Conventionally, television advertising has always been about big, bold poster
advertising depicting glossy lead actors shouting down at you from billboards. In this
case, the protagonist Jassi was less than ordinary to look at yet was truly beautiful if
you met her. The challenge therefore was how do we get viewers to sample the show?
THE MARKETING STRATEGY

As in the old adage, Sony decided that we will not give the viewer an
opportunity to judge a book by its cover therefore never show Jassi in any preand post-launch promotional material and activity until we get a critical mass to
sample the show. Also keeping in mind the Indian culture, a literal translation of
ugly was unlikely to cut ice with the viewers.
Hence Betty was transformed into Jassi - and her extraordinary qualities were
played up. Like Jassi, her marketing was also unique. The Communication strategy
built around the fact that if you create intrigue yet give people clues about the
character you would be able to fuel their curiosity and get them to sample the show.
Sony stayed true to this strategy in everything we did, be it in print, on billboards, on
TV and even on ground and at press meets.
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EXECUTION
The primary objective was to fuel curiosity about Jassi and build endearment
for her as a character, by giving the viewers different facets of her personality. All this
without ever revealing her. Where all channels were treating the consumer as an
unintelligent mass, the Jassi communication elevated the consumer to a status of a
more discerning audience. Each piece of communication gave you a bite into Jassis
persona allowing the viewer to create a personal image of Jassi, which made her real
and identifiable. The campaign messages and various elements built up to fuel the
curiosity around the launch and after.
The desired response was, Ive heard so much about her, now I cant wait to
meet her.
360 DEGREE CONNECT WITH THE CONSUMER
The execution of the strategy was designed to take the Jassi experience to
the consumer across the entire spectrum of touch-points through appropriate media
vehicle. The execution was unconventional, even if the medium was conventional.
The media mix included a host of unconventional media vehicles such as sms, flash
mobs, airport placards, leaflets designed specifically for traffic junctions, shopping
malls, stations, trains etc. to create the buzz in addition to the conventional TV, radio,
outdoor, press.
The channel also used flash mobs, wherein groups of 15-30 people went into
high-traffic areas such as Big Bazaar and Apna Bazaar called out for Jassi for about
five minutes, and groups of women on the train struck up seemingly impromptu
conversations about Jassi.
The idea was inspired by reports of flash mobs from New York to London to
Sydney, mobilised by e-mail to a public place, where they act out instructions to a
harmless script - like inquiring about a non-existent book at a bookstore or making
birdcalls in a park - and then disappearing.
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PR was used as a strategic tool and helped reinforce the Marketing strategy. At
the media launch the channel presented the entire caste of the show (except Jassi),
thus further fuelling the intrigue among the media building to the launch. On the day
of the launch, the Bombay, Delhi and Calcutta Times supplements carried a picture of
the entire cast with the caption
Jassi
manages
to
give
the
cameras
slip
yet
again.
Since Jassi was launching in a highly competitive slot against established shows with
loyal viewership, it was decided to give audiences a special sneak preview of the
show on Sunday (day preceding the launch). It was immediately followed by a halfhour capsule on the making of Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin. This stunt was promoted in a
unique way with the other Sony Entertainment Television stars inviting viewers for
this special preview.
COMMUNICATION FLOW
The communication strategy started with building attributes that personified
Jassi. The next phase had anonymous people talking about Jassi and then the
campaign moved on to characters from the show talking about Jassi in their inimitable
way; be it her parents, her boss, her, peers. Once Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin had generated
some momentum and the initial feedback from critics, media and viewers was very
positive, the channel seized the opportunity to use this feedback to fuel further
sampling through the next phase of communication the Shaher Shaher Mein
Charcha campaign, which features people across all walks of life voicing their opinion
about Jassi.
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SUSTAINING THE BUZZ POST LAUNCH

While the Shaher Shaher Mein Charcha campaign continued to fuel the buzz
on TV and billboards the channel embarked on yet another unconventional activity
launching a Jassis Pals club. The objective of the club being to create a community of
Jassi fans who will become apostles and advocates for the show.
In addition Jassi merchandise was now being made available - the ring tone
download being the first in a series of items to be launched.
Having hidden her all this while, it was now time to get the viewers to interact
with Jassi in character to drive further connect and empathy. The channel took Jassi to
Delhi where she was the talk of the town. She was interviewed live in the studios of
Aaj Tak and Red FM, feted by the Delhi Secretarys Association. The frenzy on seeing
her was akin to that generally reserved for film stars.
Each of these initiatives continues to drive audiences and build viewer affinity
to Jassi and the show. What started as a buzz, turned into a roar, with Jassi-mania
taking the country by storm?
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THE RESULTS (FIGURES AS OF February 2004)

Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin is today the top rated show on Sony Entertainment
Television and continues to grow. Sony Entertainment Television share of the 9.30 pm
slot is up from 8.2 per cent prior to the launch to 32.4 per cent by December, within
three months of launch, and still growing. Star Plus is down from 81.8 per cent share
to 62.6 per cent share Slot TVRs are up from 1.33 TVRs prior to launch, to 6.3 TVRs
by December 6th. Slot reach grew close to three times within 10 weeks of launch.
The advertiser response has been so overwhelming driving slot rates up by 50
per cent. The show today has a full house of 12 sponsors as against the single one
when it launched. The initial pull campaign want to know more about Jassi resulted
in an overwhelming response of over 2 lakh hits. A single burst e-mail campaign to
46,000 calling for viewers to enrol for The Jassi Pals Club yielded over 4000
members, a conversion rate of 8.7 per cent
The consumer connect can be gauged by the fact that over 100,000 viewers
participated in an sms based opinion poll, when Jassi was caught in a moral quandary.
The first of the merchandising activity, the Jassi ring tone download has resulted in
over 80,000 in just a couple of weeks At the time of writing this document, Jassi is
being hailed by media, critiques and viewers alike as the new, refreshing and popular
face of Indian Television.
Truly, Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin!!!
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Network Hubs
WHAT ARE NERWORK HUBS..???
Network hubs are individuals who communicate with more people about a
certain product than an average person does. Traditionally they have also been
referred to as opinion leaders. In the Industry they are called Influencers, lead
users or sometimes Power users.
Network Hubs differ from industry to industry. They are complex and difficult
to identify-they arent just listed on the dicrectory! However there lies tremendous
reward for paying attention to these people. They not only further the buzz about a
new product but also sometimes their central position helps to change a message or
block it from spreading. Network Hubs exists in every category of conversation
products: Kids may talk about yo-yos, software engineers about new technogies, and
readers about a new book. Thus by looking at the scale of influence and the source
of influence we are able to identify four specific types of network hubs:
FOUR TYPES OF NETWORK HUBS
Individuals who act as hubs can be classified into four groups. Firstly they can
be classified into two groups depending upon the number of links they make:
REGULAR HUB:
These are regular people who serve as sources of information in a certain
product category. They maybe connected to a few individuals or several others.
E.g.: Any early I-pod adaptor in an organization will talk about it to his colleagues.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF REGULAR HUBS:

Network hubs for different products exhibit different characteristics .However
some characteristics remain typical which are:
AHEAD IN ADOPTION:
Network hubs if not the first ones to adopt, are slightly ahead of the rest in
their networks. This characteristic can be described as innovativeness. It refers to the

relative speed at which one adopts new ideas.
CONNECTED:
Network Hubs are by definition connected .How they are connected may vary.
One hub may be heavily connected with her clique. Another maybe connected to
several clusters, serving in effect as an information broker among these different
groups. Often hubs will have ties within a core group and also be connected to an
outside source of information. Opinion leaders are more cosmopolite than others,
which means they tend to be oriented to the world outside than the local system. For
example, network hubs in the tech industry tend to gravitate toward other network
hubs from whom they can get more information. To find these other network hubs,
they go to trade shows, join user groups, and hang out in online forums.
INFORMATION HUNGARY:
Because they often serve as experts, they always want to learn more. It is
worthwhile for an organization to keep this in mind while communicating with the
network hubs in their market.Colourful writing can help but what are really important
are the hard facts about the product.
VOCAL:
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People who voice their opinions are more likely to be heard. Being outspoken
on the internet is likely to be a good indication of being a good network hub.
EXPOSED TO MEDIA:
Because network hubs are information hungry they read more. Network hubs
are open to communication from the media especially print media. Financial opinion
leaders are likely to be readers of the financial express, economic times etc.However
even though hubs use the media they rely on friends and followers for feedback.
MEGA-HUBS:
This term refers to press, celebrities, analysts, politicians. These individuals
have many two way links like regular hubs but in addition they have thousands of one
way links with people who listen to their message via mass media.E.g. Oprah
Winfrey; traditionally these people have been categorized under labels such as the
media or the political heavyweights. Each is a member of the network. What
makes them so special and powerful in spreading the word is that they are able to link
up with millions of other people. E.g.: An MTV Veejay or A writer for Bombay Times
is Mega Hubs who are able to communicate their opinion to millions of people
REGULAR HUB + MEGA HUB:

The internet is blurring the line between a regular hub and a mega hub. On the
web,people can broadcast information in such a way that makes them more than just a
local expert. So instead of spreading the word to 20 colleagues at work an early I-Pod
adaptor can put together a Blog or a web site about I Pods and spread the word to
thousands of people .Such people gain mega hub status. E.g.: An Austin based movie
fan set up a web site (www.aint-it-cool-news.com) to publish reviews of films reported
by a network of spies who go to prescreening of movies. The readership of this site
now is more than two million people.
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EXPERT HUBS:
Some people are listened to because they have demonstrated significant
knowledge of a central area (at least they have convinced others of their authority on a
subject). This could be someone at work who answers a lot of questions about
computers and software. Expert hubs tend to specialize.E.g a friend who knows about
all the latest movies, one who is knowledgeable about computes, cooking or sports as
per the product.
SOCIAL HUBS:
In every group there are those who are more central because they are more
charismatic, are trusted by their peers, or are simply more socially active.
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What Hubs are and What Not

In marketing circles a whole alphabet soup of terms is used to describe concepts
similar to the concept of network hubs: Champions, happy customers, lead users, and
so on.
Lets start with what network hubs are. Network hubs are what researchers call
opinion leaders. In academic literature opinion leadership is defined as the degree
to which an individual can informally influence other individuals attitude or overt
behavior in a desired way with relative frequency. a network hub is a leader as it
immediately connotes someone whom others seek to follow.
Its important to understand what network hubs are not: Network hubs are not
champions, lead users or happy customers. These terms are used to describe
customers whop are happy or satisfies with a product or service. Companies make the
mistake of jumping to the conclusion that satisfied customers are influential in their
own networks. There exists no evidence for the correlation of the two. A single
satisfied customer has very little to do with his centrality in a network.
For example: Consider a company marketing cosmetics to a school. A teacher in
that school is a satisfied customer of the company however the companys sales from
that school are not increasing. The reason for this maybe that the teacher may not be a
network hub at all even though she is a satisfied customer. And also it is possible that
another teacher using cosmetics of another brand could be influencing the usage
patterns of other teachers.
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Principles in Networks that affect BUZZ

It is said that we are all connected by a chain of no more than six
acquaintances. There are ten principles at work in social networks that affect buzz.
PRINCIPLE 1: the Networks are Invisible

Even small networks that consist of only 100 people there are 4950 possible
links among them. Networks are too complex. In a network of 100 people there are
half a million links! Moreover networks keep changing. People in our society
constantly form new friendships, change jobs, move-all factors contributing to fluidity
and invisibility of networks.
IMPLICATIONS:
The implication of this principle to customers is that customer privacy is
protected because our social ties are not easily visible. This also means that the
marketers are in the dark. The good news is that marketing activities can be invisible
as well, a fact that can help companies gain market share under the radar screen of
competitors. For example hundreds of thousands of customers signed up for hotmail
before anyone in the technology industry paid attention to this start up. Grassroots
activities and the buzz they generated are much harder to detect than mainstream
advertising and publicity. It may take months before the grassroots buzz gets picked
up by the media.
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PRINCIPLE 2: People link others who are similar to them

It is human nature to make contact with people who are like themselves.
Scientists love to talk to scientists. Rich people associate with other rich people. This
tendency for people to like and associate with those who are similar is called
homophily and it is one of the fundamental principles of invisible networks. This is
the main factor that can limit the acceleration of buzz.
IMPLICATION:
The homophily principle works has two basic implications. The first is that
people ho are similar to each other form clusters. The second is that more similar your
employees are to your customers, the easier communication between them will be.
Nintendo used this concept while hiring video game enthusiast as game counselors
these counselors are typically few years older than the children they advised, were
well placed to understand the kids feedback and raise excitement about new games.
The homophily principle also affect the type of people who apply to work for a
company. You will find that in a running shoes company you will find a lot of people
who like to run and hang out with runners says Helen Rockey, a former executive at
Nike and Brooks Sports.
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PRINCIPLE 3: People who are similar to each other form

Clusters
Sets of people who share similarities in some dimensions of their lives and as
a result who frequently communicate with each other. Common goals can also tie
people together. Clusters can informally adopt products together. We can study this
phenomenon with help of the example of promotion of contraceptives in villages.
Three methods are promoted Oral contraceptives, condoms and vasectomy. It is
observed that villages often tend to unofficially select a particular method. Some
villages are condom villages, some are vasectomy villages and some are pill
villages. After one network hub in the cluster chose the method, she spread it and
consequently influenced the rest of her village.
IMPLICATIONS:
The good news for a company is that if a particular product becomes the
standard in a cluster, it makes it very difficult for competitors to uproot the company
from this position .Of course; it is bad news if the competitors product has been
adopted. Another implication is that sometimes a product becomes so closely
associated with a cluster that people in other clusters hesitate to adopt it.
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PRINCIPLE 4: The net nurtures weak ties

It is easier to maintain weak ties on the internet than by phone or in person.
This explosion in weak ties should however should not lead us to the conclusion that
technology is on the verge of linking everyone on the planet. Our brain is capable of
handling only so many links at any given time .the fact is that we cant and we dont
want to maintain links with unlimited people.
IMPLICATIONS:
The increase in weak ties on the net can explain why information travels much
faster today .the internet creates millions of shortcuts of weak ties across clusters.
There are so many pieces of information that wouldnt warrant a phone call to distant
friends but you may send an e-mail message to several acquaintances.
PRINCIPLE 5: Networks go across markets

People belong to more than one market and they are connected to people who
are part of other markets. Markets are often defined by categories. For example
marketers target men ages 21 to 26.But it is also important to remember that these
men usually have ties to women ages 21 to 26 as well as ties to men and women 21 to
65 at their workplace.
IMPLICATIONS:
It is difficult to determine how people in one market category are linked to
people in other category. Messages directed to one group of people easily find their
way to other people .As a result stories about bad service experienced at your low end
segment can move to your high end customers.
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Steps in Working with HUBS
1. Target hubs first

2. Give them something to talk about
3. Stimulate them to teach others
4. Give them the facts
5. Dont abuse the relationships
6. Make sure people see hubs using product
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Case Study
How BUZZ spreads-Cold Mountain
Analyzing how the COLD MOUNTAIN became a blockbuster will help us to

peek at the invisible networks and try to use it as a snapshot of how buzz works.
WHERE DID IT ALL START?

At what point does an idea leave the brain of its creator and start traveling in
invisible networks? For cold mountain .In this case it would not have generated much
buzz initially if the wife of the author had not referred some of the pages of the
manuscripts to literary agents and publishers and also to some write friends.
Everybody appreciated the book and a few days later the rights were owned by
Atlantic. However only so much buzz can be generated in the industry at any given
point of time and after a while it died down. Cold Mountain was no exception.
Nobody even gave it two thought.
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HOW PEOPLE OUTSIDE THE INDUSTRY FIRST HEARD

ABOUT THE BOOK
As soon as the book was published it was a best seller in six weeks and this
was not due to media attention but due to tradional word of mouth, says Morgan
Entrekin, president of Atlantic.
Mike Jordan, a professor of social psychology first read the book in a
prepublication review of charlotte observer. He was fascinated and he and is wife
bought three more copies and gave it to parents a friend. Jordan also posted a review
on amazon.com, participated in a panel discussion about the book and gave Cold
Mountain as one of the options of a graduate student project. Seeing the activities of
people like Jordan, it is visible how powerful individual hubs can be in promoting a
product they like. The communication which happened in Jordans case is a two step
flow model. Information flows from media to network hubs and from the hubs to the
rest of the population.
BUZZ SPREADS IN ALL DIRECTIONS

Buzz does not spread in neat patterns. For example Jo Alice heard about the
book from a friend not the media. She went on to tell atleast 50 people about the book.
Another flight attendant took advantage of dozens of opportunities to tell passengers
about the book. Some readers heard from clerks at a bookstore. And in case of
reverse flow clerks get excite about the book only after the early readers reactions.
However the flow of information about product cannot be separated from the quality
of a product itself. The extent to which expectations are met or exceeded are critical in
determining how much buzz a product generates.
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WHAT MADE THE WORD SPREAD

ENERGY:
A tremendous amount of energy was put behind this book. The comments that
traveled in the networks about COLD MOUNTAIN were charged with energy.
Beyond just passion and money energy is about the time and money spent behind a
product.Entrekin spent hours writing down about 150 names of writes all over the
country who would be interested in reading the book. Atlantic also spent a lot of
money behind the book in every step. Everyone involved in the book put time and
energy promoting it. Entrekin went on a tour reaching out to retailers and readers
which allowed sparking thousands of shortcuts into small clusters and cliques. Grove
demonstrated so much confidence in the book that the rest of the industry
responded .He even sent galleys to competing publishing houses. There was a lot of
goodwill surrounding the book. The book thus sold 1.6 million copies of the hard
cover edition alone, an astounding number.
CREDIBILITY:
Buzz travels most smoothly through channels of trust. Customers of
bookstores have learnt to trust the clerks behind the counter. Also no matter how much
credibility one has the best buzz comes from a third party-not the manufacturer itself.
In case of cold mountain the signal from the competitors was positive and many
bought rights to publish the book in different languages and formats.
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Thus to learn how to help to create buzz any company should be able to answer the
following questions:
From whom do the customers learn about the product?
What do people say when they recommend the product?
How fast does information spread about the companies product s compared to
other products?
Who are the network hubs?
When does information hit a roadblock?
How many sources of information does a consumer rely on?
What other kinds of information spread through the samew network?
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BUZZ in Distribution Channels

Does channel still have a role in creating buzz? Can todays reseller provide the same
kind of personal interaction and advice as he did a few days back? Can resellers be a
part of the word of mouth experience? This happens through point of purchase
displays at a traditional store or through product listings in case of an e-retailer. To
create word of mouth experience however two factors need to be present-interactivity
and trust. Let us examine if these wo factors are present in todays channels.
Can Traditional channels spread the BUZZ?

Traditional channels have all it takes to foster interaction with customers and
to develop trust. However the channels ability to spread buzz differs from one
industry to another. Moviegoers for example dont usually ask the person at the ticket
counter which movie to watch; however customers at a bookstore do ask the
personnel to recommend books. To create buzz about a product through the channel it
is necessary to work with the salespersons that interact with customers and are trusted
by them. For example sales personnel in PC industry are highly knowledgeable and
those in the biking are people who are interested in sports.
Can online channels spread the BUZZ?

Amazon.com makes finding information about books very easy but can it help
stimulate buzz? Online channels involve very little person to person interaction and
thus have limited ability to push a product through hand selling. However it can help
tremendously spreading the word about a product by bringing customers together.
Reviews are one form of this. On February 20 th 2000, there were 2,244 reviews of
Harry Potter available on amazon.com and the rating given was 5 stars. Now thats
some buzz.
Active Seeding
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To accelerate the word of a product spreads, smart companies seed their
products at strategic points in many different clusters with seed units. A seed unit is an
actual product or a representative sample of the product the company is trying to
promote. The logistics vary: The seed product can be offered at a full price, at a
discount or for free. You can use sampling programs, touring programs, or demo
programs but the principle is always the same. The company gives people in multiple
clusters a direct experience with the product. By doing so you plant a discussion
simultaneously in multiple networks. By seeding the product, the company is
accelerating the adoption process. Instead of waiting for the natural transfer of
information, the company takes the initiative and ensures that this transfer occurs.
There are two levels that a seeding campaign generally targets two levels: Media and
Grassroots. The grass root level has been highly underutilized.
The biggest potential pitfall in seeding is redundancy. Seeding twenty products
in a large organization can mean different things depending upon the distribution of
the products. If these units are spread in different departments then the company is
making good use of the money. However if they are concentrated it might not be
effective utilization of resources. Of course if visibility in a particular department is
especially high the allocation of resources might be justified.
Seeding should be an ongoing effort. A dead network or an inactive network
should be identified as it indicates that competitors brands are spreading in that
network. To identify dead networks , traditional methods of information used in
market intelligence can be used such as sales data, marketing research and your own
observations. The focus is on answering a question: To what extent are people talking
about my product in a particular network? A company can rapidly expand its audience
and sales by seeding inactive networks instead of focusing all efforts on the existing
active ones.
SEEDING AT GRASSROOTS LEVEL

A good seeding campaign goes beyond mailing sample products to a small
group of press contacts and the industry elite. The ideal seed customer shouldnt be
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shy. Through these network hubs the company will be able to insert itself into the
daily lives of people and break through the noise barrier. People may not notice
another commercial for a new model but they will notice when they see their neighbor
driving it. Seeding works very effectively in categories of conversation products.
Besides this, it is very essential to seed the media and the mega hubs as well.
Four Rules of a Successful Seeding Campaign

1. LOOK BEYOND THE USUAL SUSPECTS:
Although seeding traditional channels is important; successful seeding goes
beyond the normal channels be it the media, the store etc. It is essential for the
company to think broadly. The company should be able to identify the ZIP codes in
which the product is not selling, social segments, academic circles, industry segments
in which people do not talk about its product and seed them.
2. PUT THE PRODUCT IN THE HANDS OF THE CUSTOMER:
People need to experience the whole product and the product must be placed in
their hands.
3. REDUCE THE PRICE BARRIER:
The price of the sample should be made as low as possible. Depending upon a
companys resources, it can make the product available for free or offer discounts.
4. LISTEN FOR SILENCE:
Seeding requires paying attention to dead networks and carrying out further
seeding.
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Case Study
RED BULL: The Anti-Brand
Some observers say that Red Bull's branding is revolutionary, calling it an

'anti-brand' strategy. The company faced additional problems in the UK where there
was already an established drink that was specifically taken as a post-illness beverage.
Generations of young Britons had drunk Lucozade as they recovered from colds or
flu, so Red Bull had to promote its brand differently. The firm avoided usual methods
of marketing, relying more on what is called 'buzz marketing' or word-of-mouth. A
brand image was created and cultivated which associated the drink with youth culture
and extreme and adventure-related sports, such as motor sports, mountain biking,
snowboarding and dance music. Red Bull's target consumer segment began to adopt
nicknames for the product such as 'liquid cocaine' or 'speed in a can', thus spreading
its 'left-field' appeal.
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Image: Red Bull associates its brand with youth culture and extreme and
adventure-related sports - one example of this is its Driver Search programme. The
aim of the competition is 'to find, test and support budding young American racing
talent'. Copyright: Sutton Images, reproduced by kind permission of Red Bull
MARKETING STRATEGIES
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SPREADING THE BUZZ

TARGETING YOUTH
Red Bull first marketing technique was to distribute and target the teenagers
and college goers. They went where these guys goes. Then Red Bull went around the
cities full of Red Bull cars and distributed the drinks to anybody who need energyFree, the construction workers, Athletes EVRYONE.
TARGETING PUBS AND CLUBS

Bars initially refused to stock it, seeing it as more of a medicinal drink than a
mixer. However snowboarders and clubbers soon recognized. The boost it gave them.
They started to bring it with them to non alcohol bars and pubs.
SUSTAINING
THE
BUZZ
Red Bull has mastered the buzz marketing. In the 8 sales area in US, the
representative scouts for the hot spot. They distributed their branded refrigerator and
some goodies to the bars and clubs. If other conventional establishments ask for Red
Bull, they refuse them to retain the credibility and uniqueness of their community and
clubbers. To connect this community, Red Bull use to organize a two week annual
music festival. Red Bull sponsors some 500 athletes around the world, the type who
will surf in Nova Scotia in January or jump out of a plane to "fly" across the English
Channel. Every year the company stages dozens of extreme sporting events, like the
climbing of iced-down silos in Iowa or kite sailing in Hawaii, as well as cultural
events like break-dancing contests and rock music jam sessions.
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Then there is Hangar-7, an eye-popping structure of glass and steel that
Mateschitz erected next to the airport in Salzburg, Austria. The building serves as a
chic eatery for club crawlers and provides shelter for the Flying Bulls, a fleet of 15
show planes that appear at air shows around the world. Mateschitz's latest indulgence:
the purchase of a Formula One racing team, an extravagance that will absorb $100
million a year to keep on the track while generating only $70 million in revenue.
All these activities are geared to one objective: to expand Red Bull's presence
amid a deluge of new energy drinks being introduced by upstarts and beverage
behemoths like Pepsi and Coke
VISIBLITY
Red Bull then worked to ensure that their brand was visible on the street:
Using pick-up trucks as mobile displays, painted blue and silver with a giant
can of the drink mounted on top of the vehicle
Designed to be eye-catching, these devices were aimed at promoting the red

bull brand as youthful and slightly 'off-the-wall'
Cans of the drink were also given out free to people on the street who had
been identified as being in need of energy
Red Bull was given to club DJs, empty cans would also be left on tables in hot
spots such as trendy bars, clubs and pubs
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GEN Y-STUDENT BRAND MANAGERS

The company also set about promoting the Red Bull brand directly to
Generation Y, the so-called 'millennials': people born after 1981 who were believed to
be cynical of traditional marketing strategies. Part of this idea involved recruiting
'student brand managers' who would be used to promote Red Bull on university
campuses. These students would be encouraged to throw parties (as if encouragement
was needed!) at which cases of Red Bull would be distributed. The brand managers
would then report back to the company, giving the firm a low cost form of market
research data.
RED BULL EXTRA

When Red Bull decided to launch a high-caffeine variant of Red Bull, called
Red Bull Extra, targeted very clearly to youth, it was decided that traditional
communications channels alone would not suit. An analysis of the target audience's
hobbies and past-times revealed an interest in extreme sports such as skateboarding
and stunt-biking, and a desire to hang out in a place where they could feel free to
express themselves. The target does not seek a neutral existence, but rather
increasingly seeks the razor's edge of extreme sports.
What resulted is a Red Bull skate park designed to be a "brand space" where
the target audience can skate or simply hang out. For the opening ceremony, the Red
Bull visual equity was also extended through "brand graffiti", which provided an
outlet for individual expression, since the skaters themselves provided their own
signature touches on the graffiti.
The skate park, as a "live" expression of the brand, reinforces the brand's
values of "edgy, urban and energy" each time the target audience visits and uses the
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skate park. Thus the notion of frequency extends beyond impressions to consumer
involvement.
RESULTS
The use of this kind of marketing strategy has become known as 'viral'
marketing. It is as if a company sees no need for traditional informative or persuasive
communications, rather in Red Bull's case it used the youth 'underground' to spread
the popularity of the drink. So the firm would rather restrict the drink's supply and not
advertise it, expecting that growing numbers of target consumers 'catch the bug' and
its reputation spreads. Red Bull was a spectacularly successful example of the strategy
working even though as we see later, its branding was aided by state intervention in
countries like France and Denmark.
By 2004, the worldwide energy drinks market was worth an estimated 1.6
billion; Red Bull had achieved a clear market leading position, with a 70% market
share. The lure of fast-growing profits in this market brought many competitors into
the functional foods sector, where health and energy drinks have seen sales double
every year since their introduction. Many competitors have tried to employ similar
marketing strategies and tactics in order to grab sales from the market leader. Not all
have been successful, of course.
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Negative Word Of Mouth

Just like positive WOM benefits your brand image and in many cases boosts
sales, negative WOM is detrimental to the reputation your company/brand has built
over years. Problem is, negative WOM spreads faster than positive WOM. Studies
have shown that a satisfied customer will tell an average of three people about a
product or service she likes. Yet, more importantly, a customer will tell eleven people
about a product or service with which she had a negative experience.
The average urban consumer is exposed to 200-800 commercial communications per
day, but only acts on one every week or two, and then mostly to get more information,
not to buy.7 When people ask someone about a product, they are likely to ask, Did
you face any problem using X?
Another reason that WOM is so often negative is because the positive
experiences are expected and soon forgotten, but the negative experiences cause
people to be angry and frustrated, generating negative WOM.
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DEALING WITH NEGATIVE WORD OF MOUTH

Often, companies and brands become victims of negative buzz. Unfortunately,
people are more likely to talk about your business when they are unhappy than when
they are happy or satisfied. Recent research reports that 92.6 per cent of rumors about
companies or brands heard in the past year by consumers were negative in nature.
Whether the negative buzz is a rumor or reality, marketers must deal with the situation
carefully. You must control damage as early as possible, definitely before it blows out
of proportion and harms the image of your company or brand. Following are some of
the methods that a company could employ to deal with negative word of mouth.
1) POSITIVE WORD OF MOUTH
The best way to counter negativity is to create positive WOM. Try to find the
source of the problem and specifically answer the charges.
2) KEEPING QUIET
Sometimes keeping quiet and doing nothing about it is the best option because
consumers may actually hear about the rumour only when marketers attempt to
correct it.
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Case Study
MC DONALDS
Many years ago in Ohio, the McDonalds Corporation was the victim of a
nasty rumour. The focus of the rumour was that McDonalds hamburgers contained
worm meat in them. McDonalds tried to counter the rumour by advertising a letter
from the Secretary of Agriculture which claimed that hamburger produced by the
effected establishments is wholesome, properly identified and in compliance with
standards prescribed by Food Safety and Quality Service regulations. In spite of
these attempts to suppress the rumour, it remained strong. Later, a study found that 35
per cent of consumers learnt about McDonalds worm only when they saw the
companys anti-rumour campaign. Another option to deal with negative WOM is to
address it discreetly. When people in the US perceived oil companies as greedy,
companies launched campaigns highlighting the socially desirable things that they had
achieved. 14 Perhaps you can do something extraordinary. In fact, some of the
strongest and most frequent WOM results when a customer who has been let down is
turned around by an extraordinary response to their expression of dissatisfaction.
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3) DIVERSION
Another idea employed of marketers to deal with negative WOM is to release
creative advertising to get consumers to think about something else.
For example, during the time period of the worm rumour, McDonalds could
have advertised their cleanliness and the quality of their food. Here, without
mentioning worms, the rumour is indirectly addressed by getting consumers to realise
that a clean McDonalds is a wormless McDonalds. 15 For business-to-business and
service industries, negative feelers are often a result of discontented customers.
Compile your customer complaints, and check for a pattern. If a particular product or
service emerges as the problem, rectify the problem immediately.
4) HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY

Companies who come clean about previous misdemeanours have something to
gain even from the most dissatisfied customers. For fast food companies outlets most
customers feel the company is ethical if they are honest about their employment
policy and also the nutrition content of their food.
5) RECTIFYING THE PROBLEM

Compiling a set of complaints, and checking for a pattern can identify a
particular product or service as the problem and rectify it immediately
EG: CADBURYS WORM INCIDENT
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The Buzz Creators (BC)

After studying some successful buzz marketing campaigns, we can outline
some strategies in buzz marketing. We call these buzz creators:
BC # 1: TABOO
Taboo is something that is not openly spoken about. Using Taboo as a tool for
creating buzz can be increasingly effective as the marketer ensures that the message
spreads through whispers, more so like enjoying the forbidden fruit. E.g. Viagra
BC # 2: UNUSUAL
Breaking the ice through creative execution can create buzz for a category
with which such and execution is not meant for and seems unusual. E.g. Jassi in Jassi
Jaisi Koi Nahin
BC #3: OUTRAGEOUS
Outrageousness for the pure sake of outrageousness doesnt resonate too well.
If you try to get attention by shooting
Gerbils out of cannon, thats certainly outrageous. But if you push this button
just for the sake of being outrageous, it will probably workgiving people something
to talk about but without continuation just a temporary phenomenon. The crux is
that there should be some connection to your brand or product. E.g. Balbir Pasha
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BC #4: HILARIOUS
The hilarious button works, but it may be one of the harder buttons to push
being truly funny is never easy. It can work to your advantage if done right, and to
your disadvantage if youre on the wrong end of it. E.g. Sony Ericsson (One Black
CoffeePlease)
BC #5: REMARKABLE
A High functional proposition for any product is termed a remarkable both as a
stand alone and also on a comparative scale. The very satisfaction of an augmented or
even a potential benefit makes the brand a stand out. E.g. Harry Potter
BC #6: SECRET
Secrets are currency. Revealing a secret is a definite conversation starter.
People love to talk about secrets, and when they do, they become in the know. They
become part of an exclusive circle, and exclusivity is the cousin of secrecy.
Sometimes withholding can work better than flooding. Limit supply and everybodys
interested. Limit those in the know of a secret, those not in the know want the
currency of knowingthey want to be part of the exclusive circle. Withholding a
secret can push peoples buzz buttons, and get people talking. E.g. GMail account
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Product Life Cycle

A STRATEGY BASE FOR BUZZ
The product life cycle models the growth and decline of a product, brand or
product category. The PLC has enormous implications for the spread of buzz.
INTRODUCTION
The introduction phase of the lifecycle is also the start up phase of the brand.
The brand/product category is purchased by the ID category of customers. This set
consists of people who enjoy being in the forefront of innovation; they are the
experimenters, the risk takers the early adopters.
The onus on the marketer is to create awareness and interest; evaluation, trial and
possible acceptance will quickly follow. The ID of the innovator is the dominant
decision maker. It is excited about the brand/product. The ID leads the innovator to
talk about his experience to others. In this phase, marketers usually spend heavily on
advertising and promotions with a view to drive trial, in the hope that the trial will
lead to future adoption. However, this is also the right time to get people talking about
the brand/product. These in turn creates buzz.
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Indian Examples in this context are:
Skoda Octavia followed a selective launch and distribution approach. They

appealed to the Id of the innovator through envy and aspiration.
In an altogether different industry, the example of a pre-introduction buzz
creation of Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin through flash mobs stands out as a brilliant WOM
campaign by UTV and Sony entertainment television.
International Examples of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone and
The Alchemist have paved the way for a resounding success of successive issues of
the authors.
On a negative connotation the buzz about Fiat Palio being a petrol guzzler has
been a cause for low preference amongst prospective buyers. Every brand wanting to
create buzz must appeal to some basic emotion in the consumer.
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GROWTH
In this phase the marketer must speed up the growth of the product/brand. It
may be called the maintenance phase of the brand. The marketer spends on support
activities like advertising, regular but lesser promotions. The EGO state, early
majority phase of adoption characterizes the growth phase. The decision making
process for this consumer consists of a longer evaluation period. The buzz must now
include some rationale for using the product/brand mere appeal to emotions will not
be sufficient.
The story appeals to the ID but the EGO desires a reason for accepting the
credibility and appeal of the story. Marketers must now involve positive functional or
emotional reinforces to the communication so that the EGO state of mind does not
inhibit the ID. Furthermore, in this stage it is the buzz that is created out of trial by the
ID that reinforces the EGO to buy, more so on a rational basis. Also, with product
innovations, brand and line extensions, redefined consumers, the segmentation base
widens, also adding the no. of ID buyers.
Some examples:
1. Caf Mocha in the city of Mumbai in its growth stage created positive
WOM because of the very fact that a franchise opened in ones locality who
then spread the word on a one-to-one basis.
2. Internationally, the launch of the LH Limited Edition cars from Daimler

Chrysler, meant for only business leaders created a buzz amongst the elite
class leading to subsequent and unpaid exposure in newspapers and electronic
media.
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MATURITY
In the maturity phase, the product/brand loses its novelty which was predominant in
the earlier stages. There is a need for Brand Revitalization which calls for variations
and nuances that revive the brand. With increased WOM and proven functional
benefits, the EGO state takes the role of a buzz creator establishing the functionally
strong product as a standard must. This phase sees the domination by the assurance
seeking SUPEREGO. This Ego state needs to be convinced of the suitability of the
brand for itself.
This is supplemented by superiority over the brand over the current one that it is
using.
Some examples:
1. The revitalization of Frooti in the maturity phase through the Digen Verma
campaign can be seen as an attempt to create buzz. The brilliant attempt failed
because the company failed to link the buzz with the brand.
2. A negative buzz about Cadburys (worm infested bars) in its maturity stage
would have adversely impacted the brand and led it to decline, had the
resurrection through Project Vishwas not happened.
DECLINE
Decline phase is characterized by negative growth, declining profits or even
losses and low brand equity. In such a phase the buzz marketer aims at placing the
brand on a new product life cycle itself. This is a point of inflection calling for Brand
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Viral Marketing
Viral marketing is the same as word-of-mouth marketing, except that it uses
the Internets networking power to spread a message among millions of individuals at
low or no cost to an organization. Most see viral marketing as free advertising. That
is partially true. The essence of word-of-mouth marketing is credibility that links
directly to what public relations is about. There are many viral marketing techniques
but they all depend on voluntary action. An individual must find something of enough
interest and/or importance to send it voluntarily to others and those persons must also
find that thing of enough interest and importance to forward it themselves.
Such action is usually done without incentives. Anyone who gets e-mail
knows about viral marketing. Think about jokes that make the rounds. They are
forwarded constantly from person to person until they sometimes return from some
circuitous route in the networking ether. There are informal joke networks in which
anything one finds funny is sent on to friends who send them to acquaintances who
send them to their friends. At some point, transmission stops. An individual may not
find the joke funny, may have seen the joke before, or may not, as a matter of practice,
forward materials.
In any event, the viral message peters out, but if it is successful, it reaches tens
of thousands before it dies. The nature of viral marketing includes randomness. One
cannot know exactly where a viral message is going or who is going to see it. It might
reach millions in a targeted audience or all the wrong people in an audience never
considered.
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But when viral message-sending works, it is powerful because the message
carries the credibility of the person who forwards it. Each sender says in effect, I find
this interesting, and I think you will find it interesting as well. One cannot buy
testimonials like that. So, how might one use viral marketing in PR? It isnt as easy,
but in some instances, message distribution using viral methods appears to be
practical and desirable.
VIRAL DESCRIBED
Those who practice and/or preach viral marketing have a range of ideas and
techniques they use to generate word-of-mouth. Why they do it is simple. Viral
marketing is low-cost and powerful. It reaches entire social networks on the web and
the network allows for exponential growth of the message. These advantages are
incentives to try viral marketing even though just as many things that persuade people
to forward a message can dissuade them from doing so. But there is no doubt about
what can happen when viral marketing works even if it is unintended.
Types of viral marketing are distinct and depend both on the people who
forward viral messages and technologies employed.
56
SUCCESS AND FAILURE

Viral marketing has been especially useful in areas of high interest such as
movies and entertainment where there is a built-in fan base. One studio has
successfully used viral marketing to auction off props from its movie productions.
The incremental revenue is not as important as the increased attention the studio reaps
for the movie.
Advertising agencies and their clients use viral marketing to prepare the
market for campaigns. By providing a sneak peek at an upcoming TV ad, the agency
can get valuable feedback on whether recipients like it and whether it should even be
used. And because it is a sneak peek, recipients have an interest in passing it to others
who are similarly curious. Airlines have offered great deals.
Software companies have launched new products, and design companies gained
attention for their creativity.
Viral marketing appears to fail when there is no commonality of experience.
That is, people are not interested enough in the message to pass it along. There are
technical barriers as well that can kill a campaign. For example, some virus filters
prevent downloading of executable programs.
57
EXAMPLES OF CAMPAIGNS WHICH USE VIRAL

MARKETING
An off-season sports promotion:
To build fan loyalty, a sports team offers free window decals to the first 10,000
fans who request them. The team sends an e-mail with the offer to the heads of the
local fan websites and requests them to pass along the news to their friends. If
successful, for the cost of 10,000 decals, the team gets the names, addresses and emails of 10,000 potential ticket holders.
A trial balloon:
An auto company wants to test reception to some auto design concepts among
car enthusiasts. It leaks the images to a known enthusiast on a bulletin board who
promptly posts them and sends them to his friends. The auto company monitors the
bulletin for reactions.
A grassroots campaign:
An environmental group opposed to development of a scenic piece of land
wants to gather thousands of signatures from citizens who share its view. It sends an
e-mail message to known allies that protests against the developers plan and includes
a link to a Web site where supporters can add their names to a petition. E.g.: The
recent reservation issue
58
Health awareness:
A blood-glucose meter manufacturer wants to get closer to diabetics who use
its product so it can keep them up to date on new meters. The manufacturer offers a
months worth of free test strips used in the meters to the first 5,000 diabetics who
come to a special page on its web site to register. It sends an e-mail announcing this
with a link to three bulletin boards run by activists in diabetes healthcare issues.
Toy promotion:
A fast-food chain is taking delivery of a 500,000 toys of a popular action
figure from a hit movie. The chain sends an e-mail with attached photo to the heads of
two unofficial fan sites for the film and let them know that the action figures will be
given away with a purchase of standard meal.
An internal memo:
A CEO, wishing to radiate some news informally through the management
ranks, sends e-mail to his top executives with the information and suggests they might
wish to pass it on to their managers.
A publication promotion:
A fan publication wants to raise awareness with potential readers. It sends an e-mail to
heads of fan bulletin boards in which there are photos of 20 backsides of celebrities
and a challenge to match the celebrity to her butt. The quiz includes the name of the
publication.
59
Case Study
The Hotmail Story
The Hotmail story started in 1995, which two young men from Silicon Valley,
Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith decided to start a company that would develop Java
programming tools to help publish databases on the Internet. Both of them worked for
a different company at the same time and didnt want to us the companys email
account for their start up. This gave them an idea that sounded much more interesting
than java tools-a free e-mail service that could be accessed through the web.
Bhatia and Smith started making the routine rounds among venture capitalists,
trying to raise money. After about twenty rejections they came to the venture capital
firm of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Venture capitalists are used to hearing inflatd
numbers,
but
Steve
Jurvetson
remembers
Bhatias
as
being
the
most
hallucinogenically optimistic forecasts that you could imagine. Still, DFJ liked the
idea and gave the men $300,00 in seed money.
60

In the course of their meetings, Tim Draper of DFJ suggested that they add a
line at the bottom of each e-mail messages sent by a subscriber of the service: Get
your free e-mail message at Hotmail.com. This, he thought, would help spread the
word as people used the service. Bhatia and smith were concerned initially that this
might turn people off. It took a meeting or two before they agreed, Jurvetson recalls.
The service was launched on July 4,1996,Independence Day. The day was
symbolic of the fact that their e-mail service was independent of the fact that youre
computer, or any software or portal. As people found out about the free service, they
would tell their friends. The word started to spread both electronically and as a result
of face-to-face conversations. it was good old word of mouth marketing, at Internet
speed. One person would adopt the service, and others would follow in just days. We
would notice the first user from a university town or from India, and then the number
of subscribers would rapidly proliferate.Jurvetson and Draper wrote. Students were
one early group to adopt the service. Before Hotmail was available, they juggled email addresses between school, home, and summer jobs. Now they had one e-mail
address that was accessible from any computer with Web access.
61
The viral marketing strategy used was:

1) Give away free email address and service
2) Attach a simple tag at every free message sent out Get your free, private email @ http://www.hotmail.com
Within two months of its launch, Hotmail had more than 100,00 registered
users. Bhatia and Smith went around Silicon Valley with beepers, hooked to the server
that buzzed whenever they reached a certain benchmark. This buzz was very helpful,
as they were going through their second round of financing. On November 11 the
company announced that it had more than half a million subscribers, Eighteen months
after its launch, Hotmail had 12 million subscribers. Looking back at Bhatias
hallucinogenic ally optimistic forecasts of subscriber growth, Jurvetson comments,
He more or less hit them or beat them.
Hotmail "piggybacked" on personal emails from one person to another to
publicize their free email service. At a time when few people had email, the first and
only free email service in the marketplace was appealing and novel -- hence their
rapid adoption and spread. However, the same "piggybacking" technique currently
employed by all free email providers (except gmail) no longer works. Furthermore,
the Hotmail users did not voluntarily pass it on; they had no choice about Hotmail
adding the "sign up" link at the end of their personal emails.
62
Advertising and BUZZ

Media Vs Advertising
Media advertising is often characterized by huge clutter. It may get awareness
up - but rarely results in purchase intention, suggests Dr Bernd Schmitt in
Experiential Marketing. Research shows that WOM can be seven times more effective
than print media, twice as effective as broadcast media and four times more effective
than sales personnel. Why? Because the source of WOM communications is normally
independent of the company - the person is offering his or her own candid opinion and
therefore, the information appears credible. On the other hand, advertising is the
renting of a medium to send out a carefully crafted message to a specific audience.
Regis McKenna, a well-known technology-marketing consultant, advisor to
entrepreneurs, venture capitalist and author says, People are deluged with
promotional information, and they are beginning to distrust it [advertising]. People are
more likely to make decisions based on what they hear directly from other people,
including friends, experts, or even salespeople. These days more decisions are made at
the sales counter than in the living room armchair.
Management consultants Cap Gemini Ernst & Young found only 17 per cent
of the 700 consumers it surveyed in the past six months said TV ads influenced their
car-buying decisions. Ads on Internet search engines influenced 26 per cent of
consumers. Nearly half, or 48 per cent, of the consumers said a direct-mail offer from
a car dealer would influence their vehicle purchases, but the most influential measure
was WOM, cited by 71 per cent of consumers.
[
63

The findings are significant because, as a group, automotive marketers in the
US are the largest purchasers of advertising and skew heavily toward TV advertising.
In a report in Advertising Age, Mike Wujciak, a vice president who oversees Cap
Geminis auto practice said, We think manufacturers and their dealers are wasting
money on broad-based TV advertising instead of a direct-marketing approach. While
hes not suggesting that carmakers should entirely ditch their TV ad budgets, he does
urge them to re-evaluate their media mix, because TV is such a big part of their
budgets
VS
64
CAN ADVERTISING STIMULATE BUZZ?

Absolutely a good ad can get people talking. An ad that is well conceived,
well placed and well timed can contribute to the buzz in the following ways:
JUMPSTART THE PROCESS:

Information in the networks has to come from somewhere. How do you get
your first customers? While in some cases the product maybe so contagious that you
may not require advertising such as the I-pod or fashion trends like shrugs; in most
cases you have to use buzz tactics like seeding, sneak previews etc. More often than
not, if there is buzz in some clusters, other clusters need encouragement, which can be
given by advertising.
REACH HUBS:
Advertising is a fairly effective way to reach hubs. Opinion leaders, more
information hungry are more exposed to print ads than the average people.
REASSURE BUYERS:
Advertising can stimulate buzz by reassuring customers that they are not alone.
People are more comfortable talking about popular products. It gives the customers
fact that they need to make the purchase decision. Also with tabooed products,
advertising can assure the consumers that they can easily talk about the product. E.g.:
Viagra, advertising the product in a positive context helped men talk about it openly
with their physicians.
GET THE FACTS STRAIGHT:

Advertising can affect the content of buzz. Messages that spread in the invisible
networks are constantly diluted, twisted and distorted. By broadcasting accurate
information at least your ads can partly take care of that.E.g: The Balvir pasha
campaign to spread the facts about Aids.
65
Advertising as Buzz
Sometimes advertising itself can spread buzz.Ads like Kya aap close up karte
hain and Pappu paas ho gaya get people talking.
What about ads that masquerade the product? An ad can hardly enjoy the
credibility of buzz however an ad can gain some credibility by successfully
mimicking a tone used among friends or brining the friends themselves in the
advertisements to give testimonials. In the end creating buzz is all about authencity
ETHICS IN BUZZ MARKETING - SONY ERICSSON

That Guy Showing Off His Hot New Phone May Be a Shill --- New Campaign for
Sony Ericsson Puts Actors in Real-Life Settings
The U.S. arm of Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd. took "buzz" marketing
to a new level. Its goal: To get consumers to pay attention to the new T68i, a mobile
phone that can double as a digital camera.
THE CAMPAIGN
FAKE TOURISTS
In one initiative, dubbed Fake Tourist, 60 trained actors and actresses haunted tourist
attractions such as the Empire State Building in New York and the Space Needle in
Seattle. Working in teams of two or three and behaving like tourists, the actors and
actresses will ask unsuspecting passersby to take their pictures.
66
Presto: Instant product demonstrations.

HIRED MODELS IN LOUNGES AND BARS
A second stunt involved the use of "leaners"60 actresses and female models
with extensive training in the phones features that frequented trendy lounges and bars
without telling the establishments what theyre up to. The women are got scripted
scenarios designed to help them engage strangers in conversation. One involves
having an actresss phone ring while shes in the barand having the callers picture
pop up on the screen. In another scenario, two women sit at opposite ends of the bar
playing an interactive version of the Battleship game on their phones.
Other BUZZ initiatives

One involves "Phone Finds," in which the company will place dummy phones
around cities so that consumers can accidentally stumble on them. The screen on the
phone will direct the finders to a special Web site, where they will be able to enter a
contest to win a free phone. The new phone with camera attachment, priced between
$300
and
$400,
will
hit
67
stores
next
week.
ETHICAL OR UNETHICAL?
So far, so good. But do the actors then identify themselves as working on
behalf of Sony Ericsson? Not if they can help it. The idea is to have onlookers think
theyve stumbled onto a hot new product. Sony Ericsson, which plans to spend $5
million on the 60-day marketing campaign said its all in good fun and just an effort to
get people talking.
CONSUMERS TAKE:
Consumer activists, though, werent amused. "Its deceptive," said Gary
Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert, a nonprofit organization founded by
consumer activist Ralph Nader, when told about the campaign. "People will be fooled
into thinking this is honest buzz."
MARKETERS TAKE:
Even marketing executives disapproved. "It is reprehensible and desperate,"
says Paul MacFarlane, co-owner of the Experiment, a small ad firm in St.Louis, which
has done work for Southwestern Bell and Anheuser-Busch. "They are trying to
fabricate something that should be natural."
68
SONY ERICSSONS JUSTIFICATION:

Sony Ericsson responded that most consumers wouldnt be offended. "How
many times do people that you dont know come up to you and talk to you?" asks Jon
Maron, director of marketing communications at Sony Ericsson, a joint venture of
Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson of Sweden and Sony Corp. of Japan. "Its very natural,
especially in a club or restaurant." He adds that the actors will confess that they work
for the company if they are asked directly.
Peter Groome, president of Omnicom Group Inc.s Fathom Communications,
the marketing firm that created the plan, also defends the tactics. He insists that the
campaign isnt "undercover" selling because the actors will simply demonstrate the
product, not give a sales pitch.
69
Conclusion
In the end I would conclude saying that BUZZ MARKETING as a topic was
very interesting for me because this concept is something which is very new and
executing this project was itself a wonderful experience, as it showed me completely
new and innovative ways of spreading a word about the product. Buzz is what we
come across everyday and that buzz need not always be about the product it can also
be about spreading some awareness. And with the city life becoming even more
dangerous where every now and then there are romours about bomb being bomb
planted, at such a point buzz is something that can help to control the situation.
But the negative thing about buzz is that a grapevine can easily be formed and
a wrong message can be spread very easily. Also buzz always does not help in making
people aware rather it creates a wrong image about the company if the wrong message
is passed.
Buzz as a marketing tool is very effective and if used efficiently can create fortunes
for the company but if misused can lead to closing down of a company and as they
say Ads may be ineffective, Publicity may also be ineffective but Word of Mouth can
never be Ineffective.
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The Buzz About Buzz Marketing

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