Running off at the mouth

Hi,

In 1984, when I was looking for a first computer to buy, my friend Andrew showed me his 128k Apple Macintosh. I was captivated. It was so easy. I bought a 512k "Fat Mac". I took it to work in an multinational ad agency and, when the boss saw I could turn out presentable documents, they got all the copywriters Macs and "restructured" the typing pool who took the copywriters' typewritten copy and retyped it into a Wang word processor. When the President of the company from New York visited and saw our system, the company adopted it worldwide. Apple made millions and my friend Andrew never saw a cent for it. But he made the sale.

Word of mouth is the best advertising. People have been saying that ever since I can remember. But it's only recently that word of mouth has become a discipline and a channel of communication.

I collect data on word of mouth. In every case when it is measured fairly, it outperforms any other communications channel, including television. Word of mouth is powerful because it spreads rapidly, gets into places other media can't, carries with it the credibility of a personal endorsement.

But here's the rub. While every organisation doesn't have advertising, everyone has word of mouth. Because people talk. Word gets around. You can manage word of mouth, or you can let it manage you.

Cheers!

Michael Kiely