I read more books in a month than the average American reads in a year. I'm not trying to "blow my own horn," but reality is.... I read a lot! Currently I'm reading the 8th Habit and Gonzo Marketing. Gonzo Marketing was written by Christopher Locke, one of the authors of The Cluetrain Manifesto - one of my favorite books.
For some reason, when I bought Gonzo Marketing in November of 2001 I didn't really read it then. That by itself is very unlike me. When I buy a book I'm buying it because I can't wait to read it. I don't know if buying the book in London had anything to do with it, but for some reason I didn't read the book. About two weeks ago I found myself "out of books." I checked my bookshelf looking for a previously read title. I was just looking for something that I very well knew I read before, a book with a topic interesting enough to satisfy my "thirst" for the night. It was then that I picked up Gonzo Marketing. It had been seating there for at least 3 years and I didn't even know it was there. Now that I think about it, the reason I didn't read it then was because the topic of the book was something I personally felt I was already kind of enthralled in. Today, while I'm still very much in touch with the "voice" that lives in the Internet, I appreciate the suggestions that Locke gives to companies and organizations on how to learn to recognize and appreciate that "voice."
Take cell phone companies and manufacturers as an example. While most cell phone companies can afford to pay to their customer service reps to read the forums that talk specifically about them, they rather pay for a "research study" about their customer that ends up with results that would make you and I wonder if they used actual human beings when they asked the questions. In the last 5 years there has been a fundamental shift of power. Power has shifted from the big corporations to the people. No longer do we have to take what the companies are saying via their advertisements as gospel. We can now go online and talk to each other directly and find out about each other's experiences dealing with that company. Even people that work for that "big company" join the conversation. The only fools are the heads of the marketing departments of most of these companies. Today I can honestly say that people via forums, blogs, etc., can know more about any company's service or product than via the company itself.
For example, the exact same day the Treo 650 was released via Cingular I visited one of their stores. I wanted to know if it was already on display since via a forum I already knew that it was supposed to be released a week before. The rumor in the forums was that the reason behind the week delay dealt with Cingular wanting to make sure that they had enough Treos in their stores to supply the demand. When I asked the Cingular service rep he said that the phone was not released yet. I told him that I knew for a fact that it was because earlier I had read the press release. I told him how much it was going to sell for and the data plan pricing option that was going to be available for it. The guy, perplexed by what I knew, asked me how and where I got the information. I told him that this information was widely available on the internet forums that discuss phones and cell phone providers. I then made a "joke" about how embarrassing it is when customers know more than the sales reps. He laughed, I left.
In any case, my point is that as an "educated consumer" I can make any type of purchasing decision on my own without any company's intervention/manipulation. That's the power the internet gives you and me. Power that today most companies don't want to admit exists. It is this precise topic that Gonzo Marketing discusses. A most read for anyone interested in marketing and/or the social impact of the internet in everyday life.