Explaining Hello Kitty’s Success  Author Rob Walker says
consumers flock to some brands with irrational exuberance.   Rob
Walker, author of Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We
Buy and Who We Are, is back for a final day of answering
questions from readers who participated in the first edition of
the Alpha Consumer Book Club:  From Ryan Taylor of Millionaire
Money Habits: It seems everyday consumers have more and more
ways of "branding themselves" with the products they use, wear,
and associate with, and organizations have an opportunity to
capitalize on this with the viral, word-of-mouth phenomenon that
exists with Facebook, YouTube, and the like. This also poses a
challenge, as word-of-mouth advertising can't really be
controlled as much as other forms of marketing, or can it? Is
there a way to launch a "word of mouth" campaign and get people
talking about your product?  Hmm, yeah, well, I think there are
a number of fairly specific examples of that in the book. So,
sure, it's possible. It's also