Grass Roots are your Grass Routes.

Everyone’s talking about word-of-mouth and while all this viral stuff has a lot to do with youtube, mobile, Facebook etc – it’s more about the underlying DNA of the organization and whether that DNA is conducive to giving or receiving first.

Consider for a minute the genius of Apple. Many put it success down to the technological innovation that makes the brand so appealing to early adopters. Many say it’s Steve Job’s vision and charisma. Few, however, take time to see how Apple has grown its brand organically over a generation and is not only slowly giving Microsoft a run for its money but also now a major challenger in the mobile industry.

How did it do it? Great advertising campaigns? Great offers? Great products? These may be part of what’s visible but the real genius is the 90% of the iceberg below the water.

Apple’s marketing strategy is not just about the high impact campaign – significant effort is invested in educating, adding value to and supporting youth both in school and at the Apple store (check out this page to see what I mean.) It folds neatly into the Apple K12 marketing strategy – a grass roots movement that encourages schools to take on Mac as the default platform of choice.

Missionaries would be proud of Apple’s successful conversion of an entire population. As the older consumers slowly filter through the ranks, students converted to Mac are changing agencies, organizations and companies from the inside as they slowly but surely convert the office from MS to Apple over a generation.

It doesn’t just stop there, Apple’s genius is also the Apple Genius program – the hands on customer support you get at the store where you’ll find a human being who cares about your issue ready to help you. 95% of brands would consider this a cost center to be outsourced to India, but not Apple – it knows customer service is its most effective marketing strategy.

Grass Roots are your Grass Routes:

  • Your employees are your most powerful brand advocates – make them passionate about serving the customer
  • Add value to the community before you expect something in return
  • Focus on outreach and local partnerships
  • Empower, educate and train your consumers without obligation
  • Be passionate about supporting them because they’ll go and tell the world

Here are some of our findings from the web:

* My Closing Thoughts On Net Promoter (Experience Matters WordPress.com)
* Millennials as Automotive Consumers (Millennial Marketing)
* College Kids Capturing World For New FLIP Campaign (Collective Conversation)
* Teens and 20-Somethings May Leave Facebook (David Mullen)
* The Importance of Community (Springfield)
* Life Is For Connectedly Sharing Better – The Advertising Myth (Crackunit.com)
* Dance like it’s 2009 (Cowfish)
* Industrial or Social – What type of youth marketer are you? (Mobileyouth)
* Web and Social Networking Use in Latin America (eMarketer Articles)
* How Long ’til the Kids Flee Facebook (Millennial Law Prof)
* URhealthstyle Graffiti Mural (Street Attack Blog)
* Are You Wasting Your Relationships? (MobileYouth)
* Why do people use Twitter? (We Are Social)
* How One ‘No Name’ Musician Used Free Music To Build A Following (Techdirt.com)
* Mobile marketing is ‘burning hell hot’ (Rogier Bikker)
* Twitter grows and grows (News from the Herd)
* 1 in 5 people rate mobile social networks as “poor”, says Colibria (GoMo News)
* American Apparel Hooks Up With Chictopia Bloggers (Adrants)
* You’re So Ugly (Gen Y+Youth Culture Marketing)
* Dancing Girls and Guys Hit London’s Liverpool Station For T-Mobile (Collective Conversation)
* Nintendo Bringing Wii Music to Schools (Escapeistmagazine.com)
* The Facebook Juggernaut (Millennial Marketing)
* Advertising groups must use social networks to boost revenue (Telegraph Finance)
* American Idol Goes Virtual Via Habbo (Mediaweek)
* SocNets Grow 93% Since 2006; Poised to Play Role in Recession (MarketingCharts)
* Social Networking Still the #1 Growth Area (TRENDBIRD)
* Facebook growing, rivals shrinking in U.S. (TRENDBIRD)
* (Exclusive) Uniqlo – Ask your customers ! (TRENDBIRD)
* Apple rolls out star-studded music tutorials (Springwise)
* Televised Social Networks (On Social Marketing and Social Change)
* A Tribe Called Quest collaborate with Nike Air Jordan on some CRACK! apparel (My Chemical Toilet)
* How Marketers Can Connect With Millennials (Millennial Marketing)
* Clusters, Communities + Confluence (Logic+Emotion)
* Sandberg: 20 Million Users Now Accessing Facebook Through Mobile Platforms (Inside Facebook)
* Fancorps Takes Over Contest To Prove The Value Of Street Teams (Hypebot)
* Burger King Makes ‘Sacrifice’ on Facebook (Brandweek)
* Facebook’s traffic growth leaving rivals in the dust (TRENDBIRD)
* Facebook Growth Continuing, Surpasses 150 Million Monthly Active Users (Inside Facebook)
* Author John King On Understanding Your Tribe (Hypebot)
* Go Beyond Your Products To Get Gen-Y (Gen Y+Youth Marketing)
* Social Media Marketing: Nike Plus Human Race (Slideshows)
* Advertising on UK Social Networks (eMarketer Articles)
* DNA Energy Drinks Their Way Into Gen-Y (Gen Y+Youth Marketing)
* Study: Teens on MySpace Mention Sex, Violence (Causecast)
* Finding Your Campus Marketing Voice (Big Brand On Campus)
* We Are The Crowd, and We Are Powerful (Blog)
* Mobile is the Perfect Accessory for Festival Goers (Another Advertising Wanker)
* How to build relationships with Gen Y (Arielle Patrice Scott)
* If Facebook Growth Stopped, Twitter Would Still Take 36 Years to Catch Up (Truemors)
* Twitter Tidbits: 70% of Twitterers Signed Up in 2008 (Truemors)
* Twitter’s New Users Drive 600% Growth (MarketingCharts)
* SK Telecom is going to make Mobile Application Store like Apple’s App Store (Korean Insight)
* Facebook Indonesia Outpaces Southeast Asian Counterparts in 2008 (Inside Facebook)
* Facebook UK Traffic Spikes on Christmas Day (Inside Facebook)
* Nike Realizes a Brand Advocate (Gen Y+Youth Culture Marketing)
* Focused Social Networks Build Community (eMarketer Articles)
* 39.com: China Mobile’s Social Network (China Web2.0 Review)
* What the Flip is MTV Doing? (Buzz&Viral Marketing Agency)
* Why Local Sports May Pay Off for Marketers (Advertising Age)
* Roundtable Event: The Future of the Social Web (Slideshows)
* Mobile Social Networking Climbs (eMarketer Articles)
* Social networking penetration by country in September 2008 (IT Facts)
* Brands, social, clutter and the sundae (Seth’s Blog)
* Snapple’s in the Music Business Now (Adrants)
* Club Penguin Launches “Coins for Change” (Barking Robot)
* Red Bull settles in the Playstation Home (Adverblog)
* 7 things hip hop taught me about community (Adspace Pioneers)
* Community 2.0: Juicy Campus (Fallon Planning)
* Facebook Using Game Design to Drive New User Engagement (Inside Facebook)
* Pinoy Progressive – Part 2: Community (Asia Scout Network blogs)
* Tampa Am 2008 day 1 (Red Bull Skateboarding)
* New Ford Flex Debuts With Influencer Events (Collective Conversation)
* Survey Reveals Intense Dedication To Mobile Social Networks (MobiAD)
* Mumbai and the Media (Crowdsourcing)
* Social Media In China (Slideshows)
* Red Bull Formula Drift Licensing Event at Long Beach (uk.youtube.com)
* More than Half of CMOs Remain Uninterested in Social Networks (MarketingCharts)
* adidas Running (Adverbox)
* Twinfluence (Twitter Facts)
* Don’t Advertise on Social Media (Capital C)
* Marketing Games to Kids (threebillion)
* Can brands be friends? (About Blyk)
* RED BULL’S SKATE and CREATE (Red Bull Skateboarding)
* How Apple is Outmaneuvering PCs in Brand Warfare (CoolMarketingStuff)
* Selling product blueprints to crafty consumers (Springwise)
* Apple, Not Obama, Is My Marketer Of The Year (Customer Experience Matters)
* Red bull: “Can you make it?” (Buzz & Viral Marketing Agency)
* Globe’s United By Fate with Ryan Decenzo (Red Bull Skateboarding)

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