{"id":43,"date":"2008-03-29T15:23:07","date_gmt":"2008-03-29T22:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.smoblog.com\/mentos-marketing\/"},"modified":"2013-03-07T15:59:31","modified_gmt":"2013-03-07T22:59:31","slug":"mentos-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smoblog.com\/mentos-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"Mentos, Diet Coke + The Age of Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>The Age of Conversation<\/em><\/a> re-launches today on Amazon.com with the Age of Conversation Bum Rush<\/a>. If you haven\u2019t bought or borrowed a copy yet and are wondering what all the tweets, twits and talk is about, let me fill in the blanks:<\/p>\n The Age of Conversation<\/em> is an anthology of the bite-size nuggets of new media insights from 100+ marketing bloggers. If you\u2019ve already got a copy, you can find me in chapter #11.<\/p>\n All the profits go to Variety, The Children\u2019s Charity<\/em>. If you buy a copy<\/a>, you won\u2019t make my wallet any heavier but you\u2019ll help some kids that really need it. Chris Wilson is spearheading the bum rush<\/a>, and they\u2019ve gotten it up as high as #53 at Amazon\u2019s business section. It looks like it has slid a bit to #57. If you own a copy already, I\u2019m sure adding your review over there<\/a> would help people that are pondering whether to buy it or not.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been interesting to read some of the comments over at the thread on Digg. As marketing dynamics transform from a world one-to-many messages to many-to-many, how is spam going to be socially defined?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The social definition of spam is important for any marketer to follow. Some things are clear cut \u2013 Nigerian scams, male \u201cimprovement\u201d and penny-stock recommendations. Others lead to fuzzier, more subjective interpretations. In the case of The Age of Conversation<\/em>, poettheunclothed<\/a>, a Digg commenter notes<\/a> on the Digg post for the bum rush<\/a> that \u201cIf I can\u2019t read it free online then it is spam\u201d. That is a really good point and something I\u2019ll bet a lot of Digg users agree with in principle.<\/p>\n No doubt there are some that have a slightly different threshold and acknowledging that all the profits in this case go to a charity, are able to resist the bury button. Of course, one the most compelling aspect of Digg is how cold-hearted and snide some of the users are. A healthy portion of the comment threads feel like watching a train starting to careen off the tracks. In many ways Digg isn\u2019t a social news site as much as an entertainment site — I think it is a vital part of their brand<\/p>\nCan you make spam easier to swallow?<\/h2>\n
\nI do wonder though, if there was, say, an article about a Pink Floyd reunion tour whether we\u2019d see the same kind of treatment in regards to spam and such \u2013 even though they\u2019d be inadvertently helping to engorge music industry fat cats along the way. I suspect not, but will have to poke around and look for some examples when I have a bit more time. If any of you have any to share, please leave them in the comments.<\/p>\nMentos + Diet Coke = The best spam ever<\/h2>\n