Posted by Ron Jooss
This weekend I read an article in New York Times magazine about record producer Rick Rubin's latest challenge: Saving the record business. For those of you who haven't noticed, the technology to download songs on line has drastically slashed CD sales in recent years. Consider this: How many CD stores are left in your local mall?
Anyway, Columbia Records, which now employs Rubin, put together a program called Big Red. The company invited 20 college kids from Harvard, Penn State and the University of Miami (Fla.) to take part in various projects. At the end of the paid internships, the students took part in focus groups. Columbia wanted to find out what made the college-age consumers tick.
Among the findings that I found most intriguing (at least as it concerns my job and writing this blog) is that for these college-age students--from some of the best schools in America--"the biggest thing in their lives is word of mouth," to quote the article, "that's how they learn about music, bands, everything."
Partly as a result of those focus groups, Columbia has set up a "word-of-mouth department," composed of some of the students from the Big Red focus groups and other 20-somethings. The word-of-mouth department will be a publicity and promotional arm of Columbia, spreading word of the company's latest acts on line and in person.
I've also been reading some Seth Godin lately (see his blog here). Of course, Godin, a marketing guru who writes what seems like a book a month, claims that the old way of marketing is dead. Godin's writing carries a lot of wisdom. That's why his books sell. One thing he advocates I know is true: In today's world, with our powerful networks built around computers and cell phones, word of mouth spreads very fast--and cheap.
What if your credit union started a word-of-mouth department? How would it work? One thing I do know, again, a Godin pearl: You have to have an extraordinary story to tell. Food for thought.
Ron Jooss is a CUES editor.
