Posted by I was just listening to the latest episode of Joseph Jaffe‘s Across The Sound Podcast (episode #92). He’s starting to ramp up his efforts for the launch of his sophomore book, Join The Conversation, by attempting to get as many people as possible to purchase the book on the same day (October 21st, 2007) in the hopes that it will top the charts at Amazon.com.
Being such a big fan of his first book, Life After The 30 Second Spot, I’m willing to help out and spread it to this community as well (feel free to spread the word yourself).
Jaffe is taking this cue from the Bum Rush The Charts program that ran a few months back. The intent of Bum Rush The Charts was to get an indie rock band (Black Lab) to the top of the iTunes music charts. I have also seen many similar book drive campaigns where authors leverage each other’s database and offer incentives (like free audio downloads, e-books and more) to incite their audiences to unite behind a specific date to drive sales.
I like this type of marketing initiative because it hits on some core concepts that make Digital Marketing so powerful:
1. This type of campaign can’t work unless you have a strong database with loyal consumers.
2. If you understand your database and watch the results of this time-specific campaign, you can gain some quick insights into how your list converts to action.
3. Programs like this exemplify the true power of Word of Mouth Marketing – but for the sake of Digital Marketing, I like to call it, Word of Mouse Marketing.
4. It’s really driven by the community and has some great grassroots campaign elements.
5. It’s cheap, simple and fast. The Marketer working on this campaign doesn’t have to stress over mechanicals and other issues. It’s all digital… it’s all good.
I was going to buy a double handful of Joseph Jaffe’s Join The Conversation for myself, Twist Image and some of our clients regardless, so I’m happy to wait until October 21st, 2007 when we – as Marketers – can help out a fellow Marketer and Bum Rush The (Book) Charts.
Here’s the direct link to bookmark for Jaffe’s special date: Amazon.com – Joseph Jaffe – Join The Conversation.
Jaffe also Blogged about it over here: Bumrush The Charts – Join The Conversation Edition.
Never another podcast episode or article 
While I can get into the geeky hacker side of things like this, what does it really accomplish? I can understand mob-type coordinated protest efforts, but organizing people to buy something seems vain. If it’s good, it will get eyeballs through natural word-of-mouth.
Maybe someone could get him on the Daily Show in return for an iPhone. 🙂
I think it accomplishes a lot.
I think this is an opportunity for Marketing (and Business) people to buy a book at the same time and make some noise about it.
David, you’re in PR – you guys are all about making a splash or creating an event. This is both and I especially like doing it when it’s someone I like 🙂
I am in PR, but I’m also a believer in authenticity. And yes, the two things can co-exist.
This bum-rush stuff smacks of gaming the system to me, which seems a bit crooked. It’s not marketing, or word-of-mouth. It’s cronyism.