I really enjoy Jonah Lehrer’s science writing.  His books, articles and Blog (The Frontal Cortex at Wired magazine) are among my favorite readings.  He has a talent for identifying interesting scientific findings, boiling them down to their essence, and then communicating them in an accessible manner.  Some of Lehrer’s favorite topics are decision making.

A recent blog post “The Buzz on Buzz” describes a study by Northwestern University professor Brian Uzzi and colleagues on how buzz or word-of-mouth spreads.  Uzzi’s findings suggest that word-of-mouth is important — at least for movies — and suggest marketing managers reconsider their promotion budget.

The new buzz research has important implications for marketing. While the old model of advertising is all about reaching individual consumers—that’s why companies spend millions for a 15-second Super Bowl ad—Mr. Uzzi argues that future strategies should focus on getting consumers to spread the message themselves. “Thanks to social-networking sites, kids today are more connected than ever,” he adds. “They’re also much better at ignoring conventional ads, which means that the only way to reach them is with buzz.”