Word of mouth
28Jul03
In a new era of anti-advertising, ‘word of mouth’, deemed the oldest and most effective form of advertising could well make a big come back. Reinforcing the cult and underground status of cool brands, advertisers of youth products will create events, promoted with no advertising whatsoever but purely from friends inviting others. Subliminally they will become loyal to the brand.
This is referred to in other places as “No Logo” and the “alpha dog” theory. People are simply much more likely to trust people they already know, or experiences they have themselves been in.
This article is something I got from the NYTimes a while back–it’s pretty amazing how low-budget campaigns can be the most successful.
http://isisteam.stanford.edu/blog/documents/The Marketing of No Marketing (pabst, nologo, nytimes article).pdf