The Secrets of Word-of-Mouth Marketing, 2nd Edition

Introduction

Why This Book—and Word-of-Mouth Marketing Today—Is Different

My interest in marketing started one day in my father’s drug store. I watched a Camel cigarette salesman repeatedly approach customers who had just bought a pack of the largest competing brand, Chesterfield. He had pushed a Camel and a Chesterfield cigarette through two holes in a 3″ × 5″ index card, so that the customers couldn’t see the cigarettes’ brand names. He asked them to take a few puffs of each and tell him which they liked better. Most of the Chesterfield smokers said that they preferred the taste of the one that turned out to be a Camel. He showed them that they had chosen a different brand, Camel, over their regular brand. They were shocked, much to my amusement. ...