Interruption marketing is what we have come to think of as advertising—television commercials, radio spots, etc. But these standards of advertising are no longer applicable. Instead, advertisers need to adopt a viral marketing-like strategy in order to get in the heads of consumers. This is necessary because ideas have become the newest form of currency in markets where goods and services used to rule. Here is where the ideavirus comes in. The ideavirus, as Godin says, is an idea that grows and effects everyone it touches (whether they want it or not). Ideaviruses appear to be accidents, but in reality are viral marketing campaigns that plant seed ideas in consumers. This form of marketing can be achieved by word-of-mouth promotion (although Godin calls it mouse-of-word as he argues the click of a mouse has a further reach than person to person communications), ‘sneezers’ or people with credible standing in society and groups who go out and promote something (Godin says that bribing these people is ok) , persistence, and the aid of an amplifier (kind of a guerrilla marketing technique). Current examples of this ideavirus can be seen with how Google distributed accounts for gmail originally (in which you initially had to be invited to get an account) and also best-seller book lists like the NY Times has.
Maybe it is because this work was written 7 years ago, but I don’t think any of these ideas are new. I think they are based off longstanding marketing principles that have been slightly modified with the technological and social advances (like You Tube and Facebook). Essentially, I feel that Godin's arguments encompassing the same ideas that have been commonplace in marketing for a long time, just with his take on them. Take for example the Beatles and their arrival in the United States. When the Beatles first came to the United States, they were a sensation even before they landed. There had been promotion of the Beatles through traditional advertising like radio airplay, word-of-mouth advertising, media gigs (Ed Sullivan Show for example), stickers--they were already everywhere before they arrived. It was a media blitz, along the same lines as Godin describes.
As for a new sink or swim necessity in expanding past traditional advertising, here is where I agree with Godin. In recent years, we have definitely seen it become harder and harder for advertisers to reach consumers. Products like TiVo and pop-up blockers have seen to this. However, I do not agree with Godin in his explanation that advertisers will fail considerably if they do not completely adapt to the new technological environment. When television first started, there were no commercials, just product placement and program sponsors. Then commercials became popular and product placement within the television show took a backseat. Now we are seeing a return to product placement in programs, which cost advertisers millions of dollars (which they would not spend if their advertising was not working). The new forms of advertising that Godin discusses are not revolutionary, just extensions and evolutions of previous forms.
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