ChasNote

In Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, it’s small groups of hipsters in the East Village that start the trends that become national phenomena. In the book business, it’s a humbler, less fashionable set — leaders of small reading groups — that launch best-sellers (see NY Times).

“Increasingly, authors and publishers are tipping their hats to the power of 8 or 10 or 12 women (and usually they are women) sitting around a dining room table, dissecting their particular book of the month, then spreading the word to their friends. Along with ‘The Kite Runner,’ the successes of ‘The Memory Keeper’s Daughter,’ ‘Water for Elephants,’ ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ and ‘Kabul Beauty School’ have been credited to the early and continuing support of reading groups.”

It makes sense then that other large brands — such as Johnson & Johnson are investing in marketing to small groups of evangelists.

Last month Johnson & Johnson’s Children’s Motrin brand launched Code Orange, a site that invites parents to share experiences of “that slightly scary moment when our kids develop a high fever. A Code Orange moment can happen any time, but doesn’t it always seem to kick off just when you have something planned for your child or your family? That’s the time to take a deep breath, call your doctor and reach for Children’s Motrin.”

It’s quite a feat for a pharmaceutical company — what with the regulations imposed on that industry — to step into the conversational marketing arena at all. Among the rules of engagement for the Code Orange site is this:

“Please keep in mind that the makers of Children’s MOTRIN® work within a highly regulated industry. Therefore, comments that pertain to regulatory issues or product issues, that offer medical advice, or that contain vulgarity or otherwise offensive material, will not be posted. All comments within this group will be reviewed before posting. Some comments may be forward to other people with the company for review and possible follow-up. The makers of Children’s MOTRIN® reserve the right to not post comments for any reason whatsoever.”

It’s double the feat that they seem to be pulling it off. Several FM authors — Asha Dornfest of ParentHacks, Danielle Friedland of Celebrity Baby Blog, and Mindy Roberts of The Mommy Blog — supplied their own stories alongside 350 member-contributors so far. Other visitors are rating stories or adding comments. It’s a smallish community compared to the reach J&J might accomplish with broadcast TV, but — unlike the passive recipients of an ad impression via TV — it’s an actual community. It’s the alpha moms who never miss a meeting of their new-parents groups, the ones you call for a pediatrician recommendation or — I have two kids, trust me! — a reminder on the right dosage for a sick kid under 24 months. Three-hundred-fifty times 12 people in the average moms’ group is 4,200. In army-speak, that’s around 100 platoons!

RELATED 11/20: In recognition of the power of small groups to influence much larger audiences, book publishers are staging a major marketing effort against book-group organizers.