What would the Director of Marketing for Riga, Latvia do?

From LatviansOnline.com – The Riga Monopoly Challenge
February 18, 2008

I’d like to respond to the insightful comments of Norlander, Ojars and Andrejs with the question:

“If you were the newly hired Director of Marketing for Riga, Latvia –
what would you do over the next 4 days and the subsequent 7?”

Is there enough time to stay in the Top 5?
What about Top 3?
I believe there is.

The 4 days/7 days timeframe is detailed at MonopolyWorldVote’s Voting on the site:

“…voting on the top 20 pre-selected cities (is) open from January 22, 2008 through February 28, 2008. …The leader board for the top 20 pre-selected cities will be available until February 21, 2008.”

An obvious and easy to implement solution is to contact as many Latvians around the world as possible and let them know that
“We can make a difference.” I was surprised that many who I contacted were completely unaware of this contest.
You might share a similar experience.

Are there existing effective marketing tools that can be quickly and powerfully utilized?

Again, I believe so. Inc. Magazine has an article Word of Mouse.

“What Is Word of Mouse? Word of mouse is good old-fashioned word of mouth, but with the ability to spread much faster because of the Internet. Another way to look at it is as advertising you don’t pay for.”

Particularly pertinent is Myth 3: Marketing Equals Advertising Dollars. Our “campaign” is not going to cost a lot of money. Regardless of any potential revenue generated from increased tourism – Latvian pride, patriotism and “bragging rights” have already benefited. IMHO.

Finally, I share Andrejs’ concern for global “business as usual.” Over the past 807 years, “How many times has this happened to Riga before?” By my count there are 128 days between the “end” of the Monopoly contest and the “beginning” of the much more important Latvian Nationwide Song and Dance Celebration in Riga, July 5-12, 2008!

Over the next 135 days, keeping with traditional Latvian frugality, why not get the services of a world class marketing coach for free?

Seth Godin, bestselling author, entrepreneur and agent of change – could help Riga.
And fast. His contribution is the “IdeaVirus.” He asks: “What’s the difference between word of mouth and an ideavirus?
Two differences. First, word of mouth tends to spread slower, be more analog. If you like a book, you might tell a friend or two. And then your friends are unlikely to tell someone else until they read it for themselves.

Second, word of mouth dies off. Because the numbers are smaller, it doesn’t take many people who don’t participate in the word of mouth for each generation to be smaller than the one before it.

With an ideavirus, both principles no longer apply. Ideaviruses spread fast and they spread far. With word of mouse (word of mouth augmented by the power of online communication), you can tell 100 friends, or a thousand friends. Because the numbers are larger and faster, the virus grows instead of slows.”

Here is where you can Download the FREE Unleashing the IdeaVirus eBook
Here is where you can read it online.