Buzz Marketing: From Business Week: "So how does it work? In a successful campaign, each carefully cultivated recipient of the brand message becomes a powerful carrier, spreading the word to yet more carriers, much as a virus rampages through a given population. "We're arming consumers with the tools or knowledge they can take back to their peer groups so they'll be perceived as being in the know," says Scott Stern, senior vice-president at Bates USA, who developed a buzz campaign for Lucky Strike cigarettes. "Ultimately, the brand benefits because an accepted member of the social circle will always be far more credible than any communication that could ever come directly from the brand."