Knot – 100% Coverage – Without Marketing

I’m not getting married. And yet this article in Time caught my attention. The interesting part is not the wedding theme – but solely the highly interesting marketing thesis that wedding-site Knot proposes. Cause it hasn’t got any.

They’ve managed to launch a site that touches 80% of everyone getting married in the US. And have an audience that turns 100% every year. Without ever have to buy advertising, key words or do search engine optimisation.

“If we can’t build a brand that has its own life, we’re not going to have a business.” Carley Roney and David Liu, founders and owners of Knot + a married couple since ten years, says.

In the States, $70 billions is being spend annually on weddings, and for the first five years they will spend in excess of $270 billion buying homes, cars and insurance, merging their finance preparing for babies. Ah, all these mothers-in-laws that ‘forced’ Knot to tie off and create another site – dealing with the mandatory aftermath of marriage – that’s right – babies; Nest, a new site for expecting mothers.

“We’re seeing groups sprouting up on MySpace and Facebook with people who identify themselves as Knotties or Nesties. The brand is spinning off with the people.”

So where does this leave us? Us – ‘advertisers’. Are we no longer necessary in a world where brands seem to live quite well on their own, without Powerpoint analyses saying which winning direction to take and how to approach their audience in the best way. I say we are. Perhaps even more than ever.

Knot is a great illustration and a spot on description of how the new climate of marketing functions. Some just realise it, and it’s just great when they don’t have to be ad-people or know-howers, but merely possess the great characteristics of true entrepreneurs. Fortunately (for us that is) all brands don’t follow the righteous path of getting it right like this. Because remember, Carley and David had a few bleed dry moments during the latest dotcom with flat broke pockets and bankruptcy knocking on their doorstep craving to enter, before getting it right.