Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining, but not infectious
Review: "If you are looking for mind blowing new ideas, you won't find them in this, or any other marketing book." Seth Godin prefaces his "manifesto" with the truth.My marketing text summed up the essence of this book in less than a page, under the Innovation Diffusion Process, which is "the spread of a new idea from its source of invention or creation to its ultimate users or adopters." This is to say that I felt Unleashing The Idea Virus, at 197 pages, is 196 pages too long winded in explaining that word of mouth marketing is more than just word of mouth marketing. Looking past the repetitiveness of the content, the entertainment value of Idea Virus is what is infectious. A sizeable amount of the book is replete with examples of thriving viruses. From Fast Company to Hilfiger Skull Caps, he supports his claim with a plethora of high profile success stories, demonstrating just how valuable a virus can be. Unleashing the Idea Virus is wordy but interesting. Similar to gossip from your best friend, this book is probably something you could live without, but none the less, it provides a certain amount of entertainment value, intended to spread like wildfire.
Rating: 
Summary: Conquer the World...Again!
Review: Every great marketing idea creates a new set of consumer defenses. The real trick is to stay several steps ahead of your competition and keep the ideas new and fresh.
Seth Godin offers some good advice, realistic overviews, and usable tactics to help you get and stay ahead with "Unleashing the Ideavirus".
Whether you want to step up your online or offline marketing, Godin will get you pumped to go out and conquer the world...again!
Rating: 
Summary: Packed With Knowledge!
Review: In Unleashing the Ideavirus, Seth Godin says your idea is contagious, like the flu. But hold on - he's not being insulting. If you think of your idea as a virus, says he, you can "infect" the marketplace by motivating customers to talk about your product. He stretches this metaphor to explain how to captivate powerful "sneezers" so they will spread the word. Not a pretty picture, if you are a literal type of person, but you get the concept. For the right product or service, this is an alternative to advertising (or, as Godin calls it, "interruption marketing"). Though he builds on multi-level marketing concepts, Godin distances himself from their negative image. He writes in a breezy, easy style, with examples, charts and illustrations. If you want to spread the word about this book, we suggest that you just cough politely on someone in marketing, advertising or sales.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good Read
Review: Once upon a time this book must have been groundbreaking. But for someone who is just beginning to delve into the topic of marketing, I found it a very good read.
Rating:
Summary: I caught the bug!
Review: Seth Godin have wrote a masterpiece in my book. I have read many excellent books but this is the first time I have been moved to
write a customer review. Counter to traditional marketing wisdom,which tries to count,measure,and manipulate the spread of information, Godin argues that the information can spread most effectively from customer to customer,rather than from business to customer. Godin calls this powerful customer-to-customer dialogue the ideavirus and cheerfully egg marketers on to create and environment where their ideas can replicate. For example one of the largest if not The largest internet book store offers free e-Cards that you can send to family,friends,coworkers and etc... When the card or cards are sent guess who they're first greeted by? your're right! The bookstore informing them that they have a e-Card from yours truly(me) Now to view the e-Card ,just click on the link to A-----n.com Now when my wife see this beautiful(I picked it)e-Card she will also have the opportunity to send a e-Card or Browse the books. Did I mention that my wife is the Admin for her Dept with a keyboard with her finger on the forward button to e-mail her army of friends about the e-card I sent her. I don't believe that a business could sell
her friends like she will. As you can see from this example how books,tapes,vhs,and e-Cards can be sold from customer-to customer
rather than from business to customer. ooh! by the way,why do you think you're reading this review now if it was'nt for me to tell you to crawl,run,or leap to buy this book. just imagine! I only gave you one example the book is loaded with them. An if any book can have me blabbering about how Fantastic it is you better not miss this one. " A classic in the making"
Rating:
Summary: Spread the word... on THIS book!
Review: Seth Godin is the master of marketing THINKING. In this fabulous book, which goes deeper than you think it might, Seth takes apart the anatomy of BUZZ... what gets people talking and spreading the word abour products, services, ideas, websites... anything. Far from a brainiac book, Unleashing the Ideavirus is chock full of SPECIFIC and SMART ideas you can implement right now (if you're fast and brave enough) to make a real difference in the marketing profile your company's products and services enjoy. Another classic, and precursor to Purple Cow. You should have both in your library. Period.
Rating:
Summary: The best book on viral marketing and "buzz"
Review: Seth Godin writes about social observations and then applies them to the world of business. For example, this book is about "viral/word of mouth marketing" whereas his prior book was about permission based marketing and its impact on communications with customers. His recently released book, Survival is not Enough, is about "survival of the fittest" via his Darwinian-like take on business. I read permission marketing some years ago and really enjoyed it as it refreshed my thoughts on customer satisfaction and interaction. Then, this book came out and it really changed my paradigm about the growth aspect of businesses and how "viral marketing" could have a profound impact on an upstart Internet companies growth trajectory. I've read Gladwell's The Tipping Point and I must say, this book is better written and has examples more applicable to business. I found myself reading the book quite quickly as I was consumed by it as it was filled with interesting ideas about how to get people interested in what you have to offer. The principles mentioned in the book could be applied to anything you do in life that you want others to notice but I found the examples on Internet businesses to be fascinating. Counter to traditional marketing wisdom,which tries to count,measure,and manipulate the spread of information, Godin argues that the information can spread most effectively from customer to customer,rather than from business to customer. Godin calls this powerful customer-to-customer dialogue the ideavirus and cheerfully egg marketers on to create and environment where their ideas can replicate. If you are an aspiring entrepreneur this book is not a "how-to" book with a step-by-step approach to marketing but, if you read permission marketing and then this book you will have a VERY THOROUGH understanding about how to market on the Internet and grow your business. Other useful books on marketing that I have read or been recommended include Seth Godin's Permission Marketing and Unleashing the Ideavirus (both great reads), the 22 immutable laws of marketing by Jack Trout and All Reis (excellent authors and a good read), Robert Cialdini's Influence and Ogilvy on Advertising or Wizard of Ads for help in sales copying.
Rating:
Summary: Filled with Lots Great Ideas!
Review: There are lots of really great marketing ideas in this book. To implement them is a different story. You have to have a big imagination, plus lots of creativity to emulate the super successes found in the book. I noticed that many of the other reviews seem to think that Seth is going to give them a step-by-step system how to turn their idea into an idea virus. Reading this book with that expectation you are going to be let down. Every situation is different. You have to connect the dots. You have to apply the ideas in this book, it to make it work for you. You get the idea. (No pun intended) Zev Saftlas, Author of Motivation That Works: How to Get Motivated and Stay Motivated
Rating:
Summary: Interesting and useful concept
Review: This is a readable and engaging little book on marketing that you can really read in just a few sittings since it's such a quick read. It was interesting to learn about some of the more spectacular marketing successes in recent years and how they were achieved, such as Paypal, Hotmail, Napster, and others. If you're an experienced advertising person you may already be familiar with the basic principles here, but if you're new to the area or are looking for some new ideas or a fresh approach, Godin's book is worth a look. Godin's main idea, however, is deceptively simple, and it really can be summed up in just a few words. He believes that the most successful marketing campaigns are those that are simply spread by means of word of mouth, from person to person. The product was so "infectious," in other words, that the marketer didn't have to do anything but just get the initial word out, and it spread from there until it became a virtual epidemic of consumer consumption. There are ways, though, that you can help this process along, such as Steve Jurvetson's idea of including a little promotional message with every person's email advertising their service, which was then sent by all Hotmail customers to everyone they emailed, and it snowballed from there, growing to 12 million users in 18 months. Godin's enthusiasm for marketing is contagious itself, and in fact he discusses the concept of "sneezers," or people who are able to "infect" others and influence their purchasing decisions through their influence. (As someone with occasionally less than impressive immunity, I would have preferred the author not get quite this cute with the terminology, but oh well :-)). He discusses Oprah Winfrey, who he says is the most successful "sneezer" of our generation in her power to influence millions of people to buy the books from her book clubs and other products, not to mention her ability to make comparative unknowns like Dr. Phil successful media personalities just from the exposure gained on her show. My only complaint about the book is that, as I said, the idea is pretty simple, and probably have been explained in a much shorter book rather than the actual 197 pages. A lot of the text is spent discussing various examples, which, although interesting, could have been pared down quite a bit. But overall, this is a well written, interesting, and enjoyable book to read on some of the most wildly successful marketing strategies of recent years with some useful ideas for putting them to work in your own business.
Rating:
Summary: A must-have!
Review: This is the newest book by Seth Godin, which is one of the authors that most influenciate my ideas. This book is the continuation of the masterpiece Permission Marketing (which is about how to change the traditional marketing idea of interrupting people by permission marketing). Unleashing the Ideavirus brings the answer to the obviuos question after reading Permission Marketing: "How can I obtain people's permission, since this involves at least one interruption?". The idea behind this book is simple: why spending zillion dollars on TV ads if you can spend much less at word-of-mouth campaings (which the author calls "ideavirus"), and which is more efficient? This book confirms what I am saying for ages: if you have just build up your own company, it is not worth to sepend money on traditional media. The books is full of case studies, with enphasis on internet business. The ideas on which this book is based aren't quite new, but this is the best shot of Godin's work: he can arrange, at just one book, everything you must know in order to understand and make efficient marketing campaings in this new century, without spending time with complicated ideas which doesn't work at pratical levels. The contents of this book are of immediate pratical use, on whichever business your are running: traditional, internet or informal of any kind.
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