Apple, Evangelism, and Buzz Building

What is Consumer Generated Media?   Ask, Daphna Kalfon, who's making big waves on the web with her highly evangelistic  "I Love My Mac" song, which has actually been around for quite some time but got "re-discovered" by the blogging community in recent days.  The song reflects strong passion and brand evangelism, although it's important to note that its impetus stemmed from a contest and promotion. (Hence it's not 100% unaided CGM, but very close.)  Here it might be useful to return to some earlier statistics I shared about how Apple users tend to over-index on CGM creation. This benefits Apple enormously from a free media perspective, and the "CGM Hall of Fame" list below includes a few additional gems, including the less flattering classic by the Neistat brothers.  Daphna's song tops my personal list because the jingle is so darn memorable, and the lyrics are so sincere and relevant.  As an iPod user (now an iPod Video user), I can relate.  Interestingly, this so-called "evangelong" (I'm inventing words on the spot) got reappeared on blogs November 11, but really found it's tipping point in the last couple days.  This conversation tracker chart provides some guidance.

Rapid Fire Buzz Spreading:  Coincidentally, I spoke at a "Blogs and Social Networks" conference yesterday along with folks like uber-blogger Steve Rubel.  I dedicated a few slides to how Apple users often serve as coveted "free advertisers" for the brand, even well before a product launches.  For example, you'll note in my next slide that the very instant that Engadget published a blog entry speculating on the new iPod Video -- as far back as early June 2005 -- passionate Apple bloggers gave the "rumor" unprecedented liftoff.  Most of the buzz was highly favorable, and all of this content subsequently indexed on search engines, so "average" consumers exercising basic curiousity about the new product would stumble into generally favorable, enthusiastic, and highly-anticipatory commentary.  (Remember, that's what advertisers try to do before a product launches.)   Next, it's instructive to then look at the actual buzz building around the actual event.  The great news for Apple is that their own website played a huge role in "feeding" bloggers with CGM "raw-material" for the their blog posts.  You can also see from the last chart that Engadget once again significantly fueled the fire of continued (and high, targeted reach) blog commentary that continues to this day.  Interestingly, many of the same folks who spread the word about the ACTUAL launch were the same folks who speculated about it back in June.
 

Comments

[Dave]

Hi,

Could I ask how you generated the last chart or where you sourced it? Looks interesting.

D.