Buzz Marketing

I thought the concept of buzz marketing and the examples that Mark Hughes presented were very interesting. When you think of marketing you normally think of advertisements and commercials, rarely think of word of mouth as a very beneficial form of advertising. Upon further review, it becomes clear that using buzz marketing can be more beneficial then the other forms of advertising out there. One example that Mark mentioned was that when he worked for half.com he had come up with the idea to rename Halfway, Oregon into Half.com, Oregon for one year. This was a great idea. It is a new way to advertise your product and a perfect way to get people talking about what your product is and what you were doing. This example basically summarized the concept of buzz marketing for me. It showed that once you capture a persons attention through some form of unconventional advertisement, other people will find out and through them buzz marketing will take place.
As a side not I was doing a google search about the transition of Halfway to Half.com, Oregon to find out more information and thought it was interesting that Dish Network had followed in their footsteps and had renamed Clark, Texas to Dish, Texas in exchange for free satellite service for the 55 homes in the town for the next decade. Here is a link to the article that was posted on USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-11-17-dish-texas_x.htm