Psssst – did you hear this?

In one of the newspapers I read today, there was an article talking about “Whisper” marketing. The example used was this:

A good looking girl in a bar starts chatting to a guy. He buys her a drink. She asks for a new vodka, called “Vodka-O”. Whilst she is drinking it, she talks up the product. Soon after, like a lot of guys in bars who buy drinks for women (!), you’re left alone with just an empty glass as a reminder of a fleeting meeting.

Us guys can take heart. The girl disappearing might not mean we are unattractive and dopey. It might mean we’ve just been “roached”.

And by that I mean we are the “victim” of a marketing campaign

The good looking girl has just educated us about a product. She’s started the branding process.

Two points I want to mention

1. This is the 2nd article I’ve read on this in about 6 months. That tells me it is a well-entrenched marketing strategy that is starting to be accepted by the big players as a legitimate marketing technique. Which means it probably works. (And when we know that word of mouth is fantastic marketing, the success of this sort of “whisper” campaign shouldn’t surprise us.)

2. Seems a very slow and laborious way to market your product. Reaching 1 consumer at a time (at a minimum of $20 an hour) is slow. No matter what way you look at it. But then if 1 person tells 3 and all of those tell 3 and they tell 3………………….it might just make sense.