Let's Talk About Ads

Mmm Mmm Good

There is a food cart in New York City. Probably half the New Yorkers know which one I'm talking about even just from that first sentence. There is a famous food cart in New York that gets a lot of business every night, even when it's raining. People are willing to stand in line for more than half an hour just to get a dish from this famous food cart.

What is really impressive about this food cart is not just the amount of dough the owners must be sitting on but also just how everyone knows about it. They don't advertise anywhere so their customers must know about that place through word of mouth. And it must have been pretty powerful word of mouth because once anyone of my friends mentions the words 'chicken and rice,' we all know what that person is talking about. How does a food cart without a name, without an image, without any sort of advertising get so much business while a food cart selling the exact same type of food a block away doesn't get any?

This is real word of mouth. Everyone is willing to talk about the product without being "inspired" by advertisers. I work for a word of mouth company so I know what it's like when people are given rewards for spreading word of mouth. Many times this comes of as ingenuine and easy to see through as being just part of a marketing scheme. But the lovers of chicken and rice are happy and even excited to talk about chicken and rice. That enthusiasm is hard to buy. Even companies with all the advertising money in the world don't get that kind of excitement. I don't hear any one of my friends raving about how amazing Coke is.

I guess some people just have a superior product.

posted by Sarah @ 8:00 PM