Unleashing the Ideavirus

Unleashing the Ideavirus
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 www.ideavirus.com
If you wanted to get into Les Nomades, you had to be a member. And how did you do that?
Well, the first 500 people were given memberships because the chef knew them as regular
customers at his old job, and he personally invited them.
Then he told each member that they were welcome to sponsor other members. All they had
to do was vouch for someone and he’d make them a member too.
So, what’s in it for the member to nominate someone else? Simple. They scored points with
their friends as powerful sneezers because they could “get you in” to the hottest restaurant in
town.
Of course, this wouldn’t have worked if the restaurant hadn’t been spectacular. But it was.
And it was exclusive. But by allowing his members to do his marketing for him, by giving
them an altruistic tool that increased their power as professional sneezers, the chef was able to
get out of the way and let his customers sell for him.

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Unleashing the Ideavirus
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 www.ideavirus.com
SECTION THREE: The Ideavirus Formula
STEAL THIS IDEA!
Here’s what you can do to spread the word about 
Unleashing the Ideavirus:
1. Send this file to a friend (it’s sort of big, so ask first).
2. Send them a link to 
www.ideavirus.com
so they can download it themselves.
3. Visit 
www.fastcompany.com/ideavirus
to read the 
Fast Company
article.
4. Buy a copy of the hardcover book at
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0970309902/permissionmarket
.
5. Print out as many copies as you like.

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Unleashing the Ideavirus
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 www.ideavirus.com
Managing Digitally-Augmented Word Of Mouth
That’s what I would have called this book if it had been published by the Harvard Business
Review. And you probably wouldn’t be reading it now! Words matter. Understanding
exactly what we’re talking about makes it far easier to actually do something about the world
around us. That’s why I take such great pains to invent new words and get us all thinking
about exactly what they mean.
If we bump into each other at some convention and you ask me to talk about your business,
I’ll instantly start using words like hive and sneezer and velocity and smoothness. Why?
Because these shorthand phrases make it easy for us to communicate. By using words that
indicate we both understand the underlying factors that leverage an ideavirus, we’re far
likelier to actually get something done.
The ideavirus formula has eight co-efficients. Each one represents not just a concept, but a
variable that you can tweak to make your product or service more viral, to create the
elements you need to drive your idea into the community.

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