Here’s an interesting story I spotted today at “My Boring Ass Life,” a blog by filmmaker Kevin Smith.

(Smith as Silent Bob)

Twice this week Kevin has hit back at critics, once after Joel Siegel walked out of a screening of Clerks 2, and once today when he was criticized for putting the names of 10, 000 MySpace fans at the end of the credits. As a marketing idea, this one was brilliant, and Smith credits that one to the Weinstein Company. It got people talking and it got press. And it happened on his MySpace, which we should all know by now is free.

The real interesting part of the story is that we’re seeing a real trend here: The critics of the mainstream media are no longer safe. You’re entitled to your opinion, Ms. Critic, but so is everybody else. And in the case of Nikki Finke, she’s being blasted by fans of Smith en masse for her close-minded evaluation of the tactic. Check out the comments on his duplicate post from Myspace.

As Smith notes, not a single industry honcho or guild member has complained, even for one second. (Finke claims that putting fans in the credits is an insult to the folks who work so hard to earn those credits day in and day out) Well guess what Finke? It’s a new world, where the audience is the marketer, and is just as deserving of being honored for posterity for their word of mouth efforts in the credits, which they can then freeze frame for their friends when they buy the DVD. (Because they will. All 10, 000 of them)

Just another example of how the gap between blogging and traditional media is closing. Soon, not only will journalists have to write for their audience and Google (a skill they’re slowly mastering) but now they’re inevitably going to have to accept the fact that they’ll have to open up comments, and leave their writings at the mercy of immediate response from their readers.

I hope Clay won’t mind that I pulled this from an email he sent me much earlier today:

Traditional media is so far behind the news cycle; they report business news two/three DAYS late. By that time, it’s been digested, blogged and commented about by bloggers everywhere. Faddishness? I think not. Of course, we’re not journalists. We’re not the first draft of history. Journalistic media will always hold this place in our society.

What we do is provide the commentary in the margins of the first draft. Once journalistic media can get out of its “Traditional” (mired in print) phase and begin reporting in truly real time… well, that’ll be a different day.

I agree almost entirely, except I want to add that when the mainstream media opens themselves up to instant feedback, the way the blogospere operates, then that “commentary in the margins” will be of as much or more value than what he refers to as the first draft, and writers will be cautious of that fact, to say the least.

It’s a common theme here: Word of Mouth. I love a good word of mouth story, especially when I know that the “campaign” was premeditated and empowered by a smart company. I am a marketer, after all.

Stormhoek is an example of a company that has spent what resources they have on trying to generate good buzz, and as the blogophiles reading this already know, it’s all due to the efforts of one man: Hugh MacLeod.

For newbies, a quick catch-up: Hugh MacLeod is a marketer, blogger and artist from England, who draws cartoons on the back of business cards:

He also has interest in a few companies, Stormhoek among them. Using nothing more than a few good ideas, a bit of free product and marketing to an influential community using free channels (his blog, email, et al) he’s been able to generate loads of word of mouth for this small wine company from South Africa.

But at this point, all of that is old news. The technophiles of Silicon Valley (and the world, really) have already made Stormhoek a success, just as MacLeod always figured they would. And that’s a wonderful thing. This is very Long Tail, (we’ll get to that in a later post, when I’ve read the book!) targeting a small niche market and enjoying “boutique” success in a world of industry giants.

But the reason I write this post today is because this “little wine that could” doesn’t just make for good blog posts and technology conference small-talk fodder, but apparently it’s worthy of being immortalized in song:

The Stormhoek Song, by Rob Lane, aka the Weekend Wino.

This is when word of mouth achieves a level of magic, when the community of users feels so strongly about your product that they pour their heart and soul (and considerable talents) into evangelizing on behalf of your company. And as a customer, who would you trust? The copywriters and creatives paid thousands to craft the pricey print ad, or the fan who wrote a song about how much he loves the product, with no encouragement at all?

Important note: Hugh and Stormhoek have never “led” their community to say anything in particular. They’ve just provided some free product to people they thought might spread the word, and then got out of the way. And now they have a free jingle, with built-in passion and a kick-ass steel drum accompaniment, IMO.

I have GOT to find a bottle of this stuff for my wife! Hugh? When can we expect a Canadian distributor?

(Use of the word evangelist is courtesy of the Church of the Customer Blog)

One of the many blogs that I check in on (daily) is by David Meerman Scott.

David and I share a lot of beliefs when it comes to how to build a great website, and successfully promote your business with it (read: make sales). Simply put, we’re both fans of content first; give your readers some value on your site, and they will become your customers. The biggest mistake you can make as a business is not having suitable information on your site to match your search terms, especially when there’s a bulky ad-spend on the line.

Today I read a post by David that made me say “Yes! Eureka! Tell the world, David!” Okay, all I actually did was click over to write this post right away, but I do emphatically support the logic he’s throwing down. Here’s a quick excerpt:

“Remember, driving people to a site or landing page is just the start of a sales process. Compelling web content drives people to action.”

If you haven’t already, go to David’s home page and download “The New Rules of PR,” and that should convince you to buy “Cashing in with Content.”

Keep up the good work, David.