As VP of marketing at online retailer Half.com, Mark Hughes didn't have a huge budget for advertising. Yet he helped drive the number of Half.com users from zero to eight million in just three years. His secret? Making the company a magnet for media attention and word-of-mouth, by any means necessary. Most notoriously, he persuaded the town of Halfway, Oregon, to rename itself Half.com - called 'one of the greatest publicity coups' in history by Time.
In this breakthrough book, Hughes offers a practical guide to the art of successful buzz marketing - which many people talk about these days but few truly understand. He draws on real-world examples of companies that got people to talk about their stuff - from Miller Lite during the 'Tastes Great - Less Filling' era, to American Idol's stunning use of buzz to become a global phenomenon, to current companies that find creative ways to break through the ad-glutted marketplace.
