"I'll have what she's having" - the power of word-of-mouth

Love this cartoon from Tom Fishburne. As always, he funnily and brilliantly illustrates an important insight.

In this case his point is about the enduring power of word-of-mouth. In a world where brands are seeking to use everything that moves, or doesn't, as a media support, you still can't beat person referral. And to get word-of-mouth you of course need a product or service that is "buzzable": it needs to be interesting enough for people to talk about, and interesting enough for people to listen.

Its by having "buzzable" products that the likes of Lush, innocent, Pret and Starbucks have all been able to grow without much or any advertising.