I just moved. And as a self-diagnosed bookworm who has been buying and KEEPING books since age 5, I am not feeling my back. My books are everywhere in the 100 unit apartment building. In the apartment, in the basement shelves, in the building’s storage… Sitting among piles and boxes, I entertained the notion of purchasing a Kindle. “Imagine, no more mess. Less Advil. Less dust,” I thought. Then I brushed the thought away as I really like the idea of holding a physical book, marking it up if I want to, sharing it with someone…
Fast forward to the phone call when I rang up my Sony credit card service to change my address. The customer service rep was very friendly. She knew her job. She was not reading off of a sheet to ask me how I was doing. Right before I hung up, she asked me if I were thinking of buying an eReader for the holidays. (My credit card offers points for Sony purchases.) I said yeah, maybe, no. She went on with a direct price comparison of Kindle vs the Sony product.
I must admit I was a bit surprised:
A) I didn’t expect a phone customer service rep to be so eloquent B) I didn’t think anything Sony produced could cost less than a competitor’s
But apparently it is: eReader is coming under $200 this season. Something to consider while I continue to unpack…Kudos to Sony for having such a smooth operator!
Idil has devised marketing and communication strategies for Fortune 500 companies and non-profit organizations for 20 years. She is the author of 'Implementing Word of Mouth Marketing: Online Strategies to Identify Influencers, Craft Stories and Draw Customers' (Wiley, 2010), as well as numerous industry briefs and articles on online communications.
Idil has been a public speaker on word-of-mouth marketing, women and ethnic minorities’ use of digital communications, and e-CRM. She has been widely quoted in trade journals and newspapers such as CNet news, CBS Market Watch, San Jose Mercury News, Chicago Sun Times, Harvard Business Review, the Financial Times and the New York Times. In 2010, she was selected ‘Digital Communicator of the Year’ by PRNews.
Idil is currently VP of Media Analytics at Nielsen, working with public sector, technology and telecom clients, gauging their advertising and brand communication effectiveness. She also serves on the Ad Council’s Research Committee.
Previously, she was a VP of Client Development at NM Incite – a Nielsen / McKinsey company, identifying and amplifying business opportunities in social media for clients. Prior to her roles at Nielsen, Cakim was a Senior Vice President in the global PR agency Golin’s digital practice and a Director of Burson-Marsteller’s think tank—the Knowledge Development group.
A native of Istanbul, she holds an M.A. in Communication from the Annenberg School at University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Sociology from Bryn Mawr College.
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