Street Sampling Blog

[experiential marketing at work]

If you’ve been reading this blog, and visiting our website you are very familiar with the ideas, concepts, and implementation of word of mouth marketing… right?

So it came as no surprise to come across this post made January 8th in the New York Times:

[sic] Barack Obama has repeatedly said how much his BlackBerry means to him and how he is dreading the prospect of being forced to give it up, because of legal and security concerns, once he takes office.

“I’m still clinging to my BlackBerry,” Mr. Obama said Wednesday in an interview with CNBC and The New York Times. “They’re going to pry it out of my hands.”

What could the “BlackBerry president” charge for his plugs of the device if he were not a public servant? More than $25 million, marketing experts say, and maybe as much as $50 million.

“This would be almost the biggest endorsement deal in the history of endorsements,” said Doug Shabelman, the president of Burns Entertainment, which arranges deals between celebrities and companies. “He’s consistently seen using it and consistently in the news arguing – and arguing with issues of national security and global welfare – how he absolutely needs this to function on a daily basis.”

As the article goes on to state, if President Obama wasn’t in public office, yet a well-known figure like Michael Phelps or Jerry Seinfield, the now Mr. President would be making a bundle himself for his verbal delight with his Blackberry device.

My point?

Exactly what I’ve been talking about on this blog and at the Street Sampling website, word of mouth advertising works!

The New York Times goes on to say:

Mr. Shabelman put the value even higher, at $50 million or more, because the endorsement is worldwide.

“The worth to a company to have the president always talking about a BlackBerry and how it absolutely is a necessity to keep in touch with reality?” he said. “Think about how far the company has come if they’re able to say, ‘The president has to have this to keep in touch.’”

Never, ever under-estimate the power of experiential (word of mouth) marketing! Nor where you next great promoter may come from!