Word‐of‐mouth marketing : beyond pester power

Abstract

Defines the pester power phenomenon as the repeated delivery of unwanted requests, arguing however that this is not the main driving influence in purchasing behaviour. Shows instead that a large number of highly successful products, notably Harry Potter, became popular not through marketing but via word‐of‐mouth, and the staying power (or stickiness) of a product like Pokemon illustrates the importance of social learning. Recounts the experiment of Stanley Milgram’s chain letter, and the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game, which shows the amount of connectedness in society. Relates this to diffusion research is central to word‐of‐mouth marketing, and also mentions viral marketing and coolhunting, both of which involve word‐of‐mouth.