New podcast featuring Nick Hayes

Nick, the founder of Influencer50, appears on the latest podcast from David Campbell at Love Digital in Australia. This is particularly significant for us because it’s the first ‘above the radar’ event we’ve done since opening the office in Sydney.

The podcast’s subject is word-of-mouth marketing but Nick does a good job of redirecting the conversation around to influencers. The links to the podcast are via David’s Love Digital page, or via Marketing magazine in Australia. It’s a short piece, just over 10 minutes, so well worth a listen. Nick packs as many anecdotes and experiences in as possible, so there should be something for everyone.

An interview with Nick Hayes

Nick, the president and founder of Influencer50, appeared on Webmaster radio last week, covering the basics of Influencer Marketing. It’s actually an easy listen, and you can stream the interview podcast here. Or download the mp3 here if you want to miss the commercials!

Tekrati interviews Nick

In advance of Nick’s appearance at the New Communications Forum this week, he was interviewed by Barbara French at Tekrati on the subject of his debate with Paul Gillin. The link is here.

Nick at the New Communications Forum

Paul Gillin wrote a great review of the book, but noted that we were a tad critical of the role of bloggers in the world of influence. This is somewhat at odds with Paul’s stance in his book on The New Influencers.

Paul got in touch and invited us to debate the issue with him at the New Communications Forum
in Sonoma next week. Nick is representing us – should be a thought-provoking event for all involved.

B2B magazine op-ed

Nick has written a short op-ed piece for the US-based B2B magazine. It’s available here.

The Book – update, case studies and reviews

The Book is imminent, which in publishing terms means two weeks or so. It’s due on the 3rd December in the UK, and 14th January in the US. Don’t ask why…

The book’s available for pre-order on various amazon sites. Because of the Christmas rush, we won’t be doing much in the way of formal promo until January, though I am discussing some of the book’s main themes at the CMO Summit next week, as an exclusive(!). I’m also at the Word of Mouth Marketing Forum in January.

One of the main features of the book is the use of case studies. We have twelve of them, and I’ve previously announced that Wipro, Adobe, Palm and Yahoo! are among them. I can now divulge that IBM and Nortel will also be included, along with several firms that declined to be identified for competitive reasons. More details on all the case studies is available here.

Finally, we’re delighted to have had the book reviewed by a dozen or so CMOs and other notables. The book reviews are posted here, and will also feature on the book cover. We’re really chuffed that so many took the time to read the draft and provide comments. Nick and I are indebted.

Book web page launched

The web site for the book is now live. Check it out at the imaginatively-titled http://www.influencermarketingbook.com/. The cover design is a draft, but we didn’t want to wait.

The site contains the table of contents and information on the case studies. It will shortly also list some further reading (or pre-reading, depending on how keen you are), which we’ll keep up to date.

I’ll continue to announce the case study participants here but the book site will also be updated.

More book-related news to follow…

Influencer Marketing – The Book

We’re delighted to announce that Butterworth-Heinemann has commissioned Nick Hayes and me to write a book on Influencer Marketing. BH has a strong reputation in titles on marketing, both for the academic world and general commerce. In particular it published the popular Connected Marketing in 2005.

The proposed date for publication is November 2007, so lots of hard work to do before then. Specifically, we’ll be including case studies of Influencer Marketing in practice from around the world, across as many sectors as we can. This is not a technology market only undertaking, nor is it an Influencer50 brochure. We are collaborating with Influencer Marketing providers and practitioners, to create a useful resource for marketers seeking to identify and capitalise on influencers.

If you’re interested in supplying a case study then please let me know at duncan.brown@influencer50.com. We have several lined up already but can always do with more.

Many thanks.

New blogs on the blog roll

Perhaps not newsworthy to everyone, but I’ve added three new blogs to the roll.

Nilofer Merchant’s WinMarkets blog – Nick (I50′s founder) and Nilofer met up last week, and Nilofer blogs on the meeting. I can assure you that Nick is not zany (for a Brit anyway) but then the meeting was in the ultra-conservative California…

Ian McKee’s The Power of Influence. Ian is CEO of Vocanic, an influencer marketing firm based in Singapore. You should check them out – really interesting stuff.

Marc Duke. Marc is ex-Text100 and Lewis, on the Analyst Relations side. Marc really gets Influencer Marketing. Blog more often, Marc.