Can the channel have a role in creating buzz? Yes, but not every store can help you in spreading the word. You need to work with those salespeople who interact with customers and are trusted by them. I start the chapter by examining whether these two elements—interactivity and trust—exist in online and traditional channels. I continue by describing several strategies for spreading the word about your product through resellers. One of the first things you have to do is get people in the channel excited. In the following section, I tell how the late Linda Pezzano, a pioneer in grassroots marketing, created excitement among toy store buyers about the game Trivial Pursuit.

Mystery gets people talking, and this applies to resellers as well as customers. Linda Pezzano used mystery to create buzz about Trivial Pursuit before the product launch at Toy Fair 1983. "We wanted to get the buyers' attention before they even came to New York," she recalled. To do this, Pezzano and her staff created a series of teaser mailings that were sent to several hundred key buyers in the toy industry a few weeks before the trade show. The first mailing came in a small envelope, hand-addressed, with a real stamp and no return address. It contained a little card with the Trivial Pursuit logo and a random card from the game.

Now, imagine that you're a buyer at a toy store and you receive a card with questions such as "What's the largest city between Ireland and Canada?" or "What sport did John Wayne play at the University of Southern California?" (Reykjavik, Iceland; football). It's likely to get your attention and you may even mention it to your co-workers. Three or four days later a second random card arrives: "What was Elvis Presley's middle name?" "How many sides does a nonagon have?" "What was Al Capone's nickname?" (Aaron; nine; Scarface). Now you're really curious as to what all this is about, especially since you still have no clue who's sending you these cards. When the third card comes (finally identifying the sender), I can see you getting up from your chair and stopping the first person you see: "Hey, Joe, guess what word was intentionally omitted from the screenplay of The Godfather" or "Who invented peanut butter?" (Mafia; George Washington Carver.)

"Buyers started calling up Selchow & Righter [the makers of the game] before Toy Fair, and some people even complained that other buyers got cards and they didn't," Pezzano recalled. A very simple and inexpensive idea created significant buzz in the channel. Selchow & Righter's showroom at the Toy Fair was mobbed, and they wrote up an unusually high number of orders for Trivial Pursuit.

Also in this chapter: • Can Brick and Mortar Channels Spread Buzz? • Can On-line Channels Spread Buzz? • What to Do with the Channel? • In Search of Validation