1. How can companies benefit from the “cultural assessments” regularly performed by Mattel? How could the information obtained be used to create business value for those organizations? Provide multiple examples.
2. The case notes that, in spite of disconfirming evidence as to the effectiveness of targeting online opinion leaders, companies are nonetheless increasing their efforts to identify and contact them. Why do you think this is the case?
3. One of the participants in the case states, “You want to ride the wave rather than trying to start one of your own.” What does she mean by that? If companies are not starting these “waves,” where are they coming from?

David Hahn has spotted a trend. As director of advertising for the popular online business networking site LinkedIn, he’s being asked pointed questions by large advertisers about his ability to help them find “influential’s”—those people within the LinkedIn community who are the most likely to go out and spread the word about a particular product or experience. “Some of them are requesting it specifically, while others are more implying it, but it comes down to the same thing,” Hahn says. “Marketers are very interested in the value of online social networks, and how leaders in those networks can be used to drive proactive behaviors in the population.”