Chapter 6. Case Study: Rumors, Sneakers, and the Power of Translation
1.How did Airwalk sneakers tip, and why did business eventually drop? Airwalk sneakers tipped because Lambesis came up with an inspired advertising campaign. The ads were entirely visual, designed to appeal to youth all over the world. The business eventually dropped because the firm had production problems and difficulty filling their orders. At the same time, the company began to lose that cutting-edge sensibility.
2.What are the five categories of people who use a new product, according to
the language of diffusion research? The five categories of people who use a product are the Innovators -- the adventurous ones, the Early Adopters -- the opinion leaders, Early Majority -- the deliberate, the Late Majority -- skeptical mass, and the Laggards -- the most traditional of all and who see no urgent reason to change.
3.What is the process of distortion that characterizes most rumors? The process of distortion that characterizes most rumors begins with leveling - all kinds of details were left out, sharpened - details that remained were made more specific, and a process of assimilation took place - the story was changed so it made more sense to those spreading the rumor.
4.How did the researchers at Johns Hopkins University help the city of
Baltimore to run a more efficient needle-exchange program? The researchers at John Hopkins University helped the city of Baltimore to run a more effective needle-exchange program by trading clean needles for dirty used ones. However, they found that only a handful of addicts were coming by and trading huge amounts of dirty needles in for clean needles and then going back to the street and selling the clean needles for one dollar each. They were reaching more people than the van . They were the super-exchangers or the Connectors of Baltimore's drug world.
5.What is the connection between the Dalai Lama and the Beastie Boys? The connection between the Dalai Lama and the Beastie Boys is that the Beastie Boys were very publicly putting money into the Free Tibet Campaign, and were bringing monks on stage at their concerts to give testimonials.
6.What made Airwalk’s advertising so successful? Airwalk's advertising was so successful because they were taking certain ideas and planting them everywhere. They took the cultural cues from the Innovators and leveled, sharpened, and assimilated them into a more coherent form.
7.What is an Innovator? An innovator is the adventurous one. They want revolutionary change, something that sets them apart qualitatively from their competitors.
8.How are Innovators linked to Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen? The Innovators try something new. Then someone - a Maven or a Connector or a Salesman - sees it and adopts it.
9.Do you know any Innovators? I do know some Innovators. These people are very excited about an idea or item they are trying and then they try to sell the idea or item to you.
10.How do trends work? Trends work by being noticed and then taking that idea and planting it everywhere - music, art, film and fashion.
11.Give examples of trends in your lifetime.Which trends faded?Which have lasted?Presume the reasons for success and failure Trends in my lifetime are fifferent clothing styles - leisure suits, hot pants, converse, clackers, and board games. I believe that clothing styles change and come back about every 20 years. Some clothing is too accessible, if everyone has them then they are no longer "cool" clothes Our games were simple but now they have changed with technology.
