Gonzo Marketing

I've just finished reading Gonzo Marketing by Christopher Locke. It's a great stimulus/challenge. (That's the good part, and a very good part). I can't help feeling that the suggested way forward at the end of the book (underwriting interest group web sites) is a little like 'just one more marketing trick' in itself, and in the long run may suffer from the same cynical reponses from customers/users/etc as all the traditional modes of marketing/advertising/using-the-internet-as-broadcast. But maybe that's not a bad thing - its another idea which should be explored. I also feel that this is aimed at the big guys. How do small businesses do this? (I'm not saying there is no answer, only that I need to think hard about how it might be done).

To me, Gonzo Marketing (the book) emphasises the idea that the Internet is a Public Park, a Common, a Community - so we should go with that idea. Traditional use of the Internet for business (... can I really say that about something that's only a few years old? Perhaps I just mean typical usage today) is as a Shopping Mall; a Private, Pay-To-Get-In Park, owned by the big end of town. Maybe it is both - say like a city, which has public and private places. I like the corner store, the local library, the local council market days, but I still shop in the Mall, in the supermarket, and I go to Angus and Robertson's (Barnes & Noble equivalent in Australia) to buy a book.

Still thinking. Perhaps I'll re-read Cluetrain, and checkout the "small pieces" work-in-progress!