Mr Kalashnikov: They’re reliable, easy to use and low-maintenance

I’d think this is a half-decent USP for a commodity like an umbrella, and most people won’t know that the USP had violent origins. For those who do know though, Seth Godin makes the point, Fame does not equal brand.

Even if the move is successful at generating massive controversy, when all the buzz is over in the customer’s head and they have to make a choice, the brand still has to engender enough goodwill so that customers will buy - or at least not leave a bad taste.

Question is, what will the brand be built on long-term? Kalashnikov and his rifle?

Last year John Reese released his mega Traffic Secrets product. Alice Seba declined to market her own traffic product amidst all the buzz Traffic Secrets generated.

Recently it’s Jimmy Brown with List and Traffic and just in… Stephen Pierce with Rush Hour Web Traffic. And I’m sure there are others hitting the same topic with their own products.

Now I never got Traffic Secrets, so nothing to say on that score. I can vouch for Jimmy Brown’s product personally - I subscribe to List and Traffic and find it very helpful.

Stephen Pierce has been putting out some top notch video presentations gratis at http://www.StephenLive.com so I have no doubt that he will deliver.

The niggling question in my mind is though… Are the recent products going to deliver as much or more than Traffic Secrets with a much lighter pricetag?