Massclusivity



Seth Godin is raising marketer's eyebrows with an innovative product launch. Today to promote his new book, Godin his offering exclusive access to join Triiibes, a new social network. According to Godin, Tribes are groups of people aligned around an idea, connected to a leader and to each other. If you pre-order his new book Tribes before July 30 11 am EST, you will have exclusive access to join Godin's new community for marketers and leaders "focused on building communities or creating products or spreading ideas." The network will open to the public on the book's release date.

This idea is really working. Godin has almost turned his new book into an overnight bestseller. Currently, Tribes is #6 on today's Amazon.com's bestseller's list and the book will not even be published until Fall.

It's commonplace for authors to start blogs or offer free PDF downloads to promote their books, but start a new online community? What an innovative way to promote a new book.

Godin is using the power of massclusivity or "exclusivity for the masses" to create awareness for his new book. This is same marketing strategy that Facebook utilized to launch their social network, offering exclusive access to college students then high school students then anyone with an email address. Gradually opening up the gates allows early adopters to feel rewarded and privileged for making an early purchase decision. It also increases word-of -mouth and buzz for the product, which moves popularity from the trendsetters to the mainstream.

Coca Cola lacked massclusivity with launching the mycoke social network and the community never went viral. The site lack exclusivity, motivation and benefits for early adopters or trendsetters to join the site and spread the buzz.

Imagine if Apple utilized the power of massclusivity to launch the new Iphone 3G. For example, they could have offered a different colored version for the first million people that purchased the Iphone on the weekend's launch. The early adopters would feel rewarded for their decision and their trendiness would be spotted by other potential consumers ...all year long, instead of just during the initial days after the launch. If Apple had taken this approach, the unique feeling of purchasing the new Iphone on opening weekend would last much longer then simply selling a product that everyone can own.

Do we really need to join Godin's social network with the current plethora? From managing Facebook, Myspace, Flickr, Linkedin, Twitter and email ....are we really expected to join and micromanage another network? I guess it depends on your time management skills, but Godin has strategically created a desire to join his network --exclusive access to a community with rewards and perks for those who join first. Now, how many networks or products offer that?

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