Marian Salzman, Ira Matathia, Ann O'Reilly
ISBN: 0-471-27345-7
Cloth
256 pages
April 2003

Trend-spotters and best-selling authors Marian Salzman and Ira Matathia demystify buzz and show how marketers can create and leveage it for the success. Because the captive audience on which advertisers relied for years no longer exists, branding today requires a flexibility and creativity that has thus far eluded many traditional practitioners. Drawing on their experinences at such industry-leading agencies as Grey Advertising, Chiat/Day, Young & Rubicam, and now EURO RSCG Worldwide, the authors provide clear instructions on howto identify and recruit those individulas within a consumer population who can best ensue that the message is spread. They show how and why buzz marketing works, examining case studies like Kate Spade, Madonna, Bulgari, Ford, Nokia, and French Connection. They explore the role urban centers play in setting trends, how influence works, the efficacy of shock ads, and how to separate trends from fads. This is invaluable information for all advertisers and marketers. Unlike previous, competitive titles, which were theoretical in nature, this book will be prescriptive, and it will shed new light on the topic by introducing the concept of the primary influencer, a key factor marketers must control from the beginning.