It’s officially “Movember” and the start of that month when strange outcroppings pop up on the upper lip of males, all for a good cause – raising awareness for cancer research. It can be a tough road for some follicle challenged guys, and even tougher for the partners of those blessed with abundant facial growth abilities. The only thing for certain is the likelihood … [Read more...]
Word of mouth and the top 3 reasons why we share
Last week I wrote about the fact that only 7% of word of mouth happens online. The rest actually takes place offline in actual person-to-person conversations. It was a pretty remarkable statistic, but one worth keeping in focus as we continue to focus so much effort on social media. We do however need to recognize that both online and traditional media are often the vehicles … [Read more...]
Lays “Do Us a Flavour ” insiders story + how CapU students hijacked Green Men publicity
I teach a advertising course at Capilano University. This week I had Jill Munro come to speak to my class. Jill is a Vancouver girl and the creator of “Creamy Garlic Caesar” chips, one of four Canada wide finalists in the Lays “Do us a flavour” new chip creation contest. For those of you who follow my blog regularly, you will recall I first wrote about this contest back in … [Read more...]
What makes word of mouth work? Trust & targeting
“Word of mouth is more than 10 times more effective than advertising.” “Word of mouth generates more than twice the sales of paid advertising in categories as diverse as skincare and mobile phones.” Both of these quotes originate from the McKinsey Quarterly, a quarterly publication by McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm. They’re pretty … [Read more...]
Behaviour economics challenged: What if gym members had to pay more if they don’t work out? And how about pre-browsing Facebook to select your airplane seatmate?
Often fitness memberships are seen as sunk costs, especially if paid at the beginning of the year. But behaviour economics tells us that people are more motivated by immediate consequences than by future possibilities. So what if you turned the business model on it ear? That’s exactly what a couple Harvard grads did in 2011 with Gym-Pact. They offered customers … [Read more...]
