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Tylenol "Whispers" to Those in Pain
Anastasia over at Ypulse has pointed to a Fortune story about Tylenol's "Whisper" marketing to the pain obsessed 20 something generation. They recruit "pain partners" who are quietly funded to talk up pain (and presumably Tylenol) around the extreme sports crowd that's hyper aware of the blatant sponsorship culture in which logos and samples are sprayed all over everything in site.
The results have been under the radar genuine buzz that works with this audience. The article talks about a hidden New York skate park the brand helped fund and how it's insider cred has led to a song about Tylenol on Itunes and a "free" spoof ad on Saturday Night Live.
Who needs the bad karma of organized artificial paid buzz makers like Buzz Agent when companies and their branding agencies are learning how to generate real buzz by whispering instead of shouting.
In these times when customers(especially young customers) are turned off and tuned out to traditional, some would say blatant, marketing techniques there is a real place for whisper marketing.
Go read the article and think about intuitive ways in which you might whisper to your prospects.
A good place to start might be to create a real blog(not just a short lived PR stunt blog) that builds credibility and relevancy in your marketplace. You might want to outsource it so you have the advantage of working with people familiar with the blogsphere.
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September 10, 2004 in award winning blog, award winning magazine, Award winning publications, Blog Outsourcing, blog publish, Blogging Tools, Building B2B Relationships, Building Customer Community, Business Marketing, Business newsletter, CMO, Weblogs | Permalink
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» All Bzz is Good Bzz, part II from Inside BzzAgent - BeeLog
As one of our readers recently pointed out, we were mentioned in the BeConnected blog in the context of Tylenol's "whisper" marketing campaign. Check it out! It sounds like they really have the right idea, and it's just more proof of the medium's power... [Read More]
Tracked on Sep 19, 2004 6:22:33 PM
Comments
"Unmarketing" is cool. Check out today's (Sept. 13) NY Times story on its magazine for American Express Centurion Card "black card" holders. The magazine is so elite - it doesn't have a name. The cover is simply black.
Posted by: Susan | Sep 13, 2004 10:06:55 AM
Thanks, Susan. Here's a link to that story in the NYT.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/13/business/media/13amex.html?8hpib
Posted by: Peter Davidson | Sep 13, 2004 4:03:19 PM
I would like to address the comment made in the Tylenol blog about BzzAgent. It was incorrectly stated that BzzAgents are paid marketers and salespeople. This, in fact, couldn't be farther from the truth.
BzzAgents are regular, everyday people across the country who opt-in to programs where product samples or access to a service are provided by our clients. We invite the participating BzzAgents to experience that product or service, form their own honest opinion about it and then create Bzz when and if they so choose. In turn, we ask the BzzAgents to provide us with accounts of when and where they created Bzz by filing BzzReports on our site. When they do, they are awarded points that they can accumulate for rewards on our site. However, 60% of BzzAgents never redeem their points, and have repeatedly told us that they participate because they like learning about new and interesting products and services. BzzAgents are not paid or hired salespeople and are nor provided with scripts or provided with incentive to "sell" products and services. They are encouraged to have real world, everyday conversations and tell us what happens -- whether the response is good or bad, it doesn't matter. Both reactions are highly beneficial for our clients. Our company's mission it to help our clients harness the power of and measure Word of Mouth Bzz, not to plant scripted marketing messages in the mouths of paid consumers.
Please check out the BzzAgent code of conduct on our site to find out more.
Posted by: Kristen Beveridge | Sep 13, 2004 4:40:25 PM