Word of Mouth Beats Advertising

From Robert D. Hof’s August 2, 2004 BusinessWeek interview, prompted by Amazon’s 22% jump in the BusinessWeek/Interbrand annual brand ranking that year.

In the same interview, Bezos lays out the operational rule behind the line: Amazon runs no television advertising, and the budget that would have funded TV spots goes instead into free SuperSaver shipping, lower product prices, category expansion, and new features. Spending on the service replaces spending on shouting about the service. Hof’s next question draws out the condition that makes the swap pay off: “If you’re not doing something that people will remark on, then it’s going to be hard to generate word of mouth.” Word of mouth is not a marketing tactic; it is what a remarkable product produces for free.