Godin is a French surname, one that is especially common in French Canada.

People with the surname Godin[link]

• Carel Godin de Beaufort, racing driver
• Christophe Godin, musician
• Dave Godin
• Diego Godín, Uruguayan football player
• Eddy Godin
• François Benjamin Godin (1828–1888), Quebec politician
• Gérald Godin
• Guillaume Pierre Godin
• Jean-Baptiste André Godin (1817–1888), industrialist
• Jean and Isabel Godin
• Jules Godin, French politician
• Louis Godin (1704–1760), a French astronomer
• Maurice Godin (born 1932), a Canadian politician
• Nesse Godin (born 1928), a Lithuanian Holocaust survivor
• Nicolas Godin (born 1969), a French musician
• Noël Godin (born 1945), a Belgian humorist
• Osias Godin (1911–1988), a Canadian politician,
• Godin de Sainte-Croix.
• Seth Godin, (born 1960), an American author
• Yvon Godin, (born 1955), a Canadian politician
• Lon Godin, (born 1958), Dutch artist

Places with the name Godin[link]

• Godin, Burkina Faso, a village in Burkina Faso
• Godin (settlement), a settlement in Les Awirs, Flémalle, province of Liège, Belgium
• Godin (crater), a lunar impact crater named after Louis Godin

Companies with the name Godin[link]

• Godin (Guitar Manufacturer), a Canadian guitar manufacturing company
• Godin, a French stove manufacturing company
• Godin (Software developer, website development and hosting, IT support), a Canadian Software company

See also[link]

• Gaudin (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

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Seth Godin
Born	(1960-07-10) July 10, 1960 (age 51)
Alma mater	Tufts University Stanford University
Occupation	author, marketing guru
Website
sethgodin.com

Seth Godin (born July 10, 1960) is an American entrepreneur, author and public speaker. Godin popularized the topic of permission marketing.

Background[link]

Born in Mount Vernon, New York, Seth Godin graduated from Tufts University in 1979 with a degree in computer science and philosophy. Godin earned his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. From 1983 to 1986, he worked as a brand manager at Spinnaker Software. For a time Godin commuted every week between California and Boston both to do his new job and to complete his MBA..

After leaving Spinnaker Software in 1986, Godin used $20,000 in savings to found Seth Godin Productions, primarily a book packaging business, out of a studio apartment in New York City.^[1] It was in the same offices that Godin met Mark Hurst and founded Yoyodyne. After a few years Godin sold the book packaging business to his employees and focused his efforts on Yoyodyne, one of the first online marketing companies.^{[citation needed]} It was with Yoyodyne that Godin came up with the concept of permission marketing.^{[citation needed]} For a period of time, Godin served as a columnist for Fast Company^{[citation needed]}

Godin and his wife Helene now live in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York with their two sons.

Viewpoints[link]

Godin believes that the end of the "TV-Industrial complex" means that marketers no longer have the power to command the attention of anyone they choose, whenever they choose. Second, in a marketplace in which consumers have more power, he thinks marketers must show more respect; this means no spam, no deceit and a bias for keeping promises. Finally, Godin asserts that the only way to spread the word about an idea is for that idea to earn the buzz by being remarkable. Godin refers to those who spread these ideas as "Sneezers", and to the spreading idea as an "IdeaVirus." He calls a remarkable product or service a purple cow.

Advertisements on television and radio are classified as 'interruption marketing' which interrupt the customer while they are doing something of their preference. Godin introduced the concept of "permission marketing" where the business provides something "anticipated, personal, and relevant".

Business ventures[link]

Yoyodyne[link]

In 1995, Godin launched Yoyodyne which used contests, online games, and scavenger hunts to market companies to participating users. In August, 1996, venture-capital firm Flatiron Partners invested $4 million in Yoyodyne in return for a 20% stake.^[2] The site gained significant traction, with over one million viewers visiting the site, and companies like America Online, American Express, H&R Block, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Sony Music, Sprint, and Volvo using its services.^[3]

At Yoyodyne, Godin developed the principle of permission marketing and authored Permission Marketing: Turning strangers into friends and friends into customers.

In 1998, Godin sold Yoyodyne to Yahoo! for $30 million^[4] and became Yahoo's vice president of direct marketing, a position he held until 2000.^[5]

Squidoo[link]

In March 2006, Godin launched Squidoo, a community website allowing users to create pages (called "lenses") for subjects of interest.^[6] The site donates 5% of the profits to charity, and 50% to the lensmasters. Godin and Squidoo have been profiled on CNN and the Washington Post.^[7][8] The site was given top prize in SXSW's community/wiki category.^[9] As of July 2008, Squidoo was one of the 500 most visited sites in the world.^[10]

Other projects[link]

ChangeThis[link]

Godin developed the idea for ChangeThis, a website aimed at spreading ideas through PDF files.^[11] In the summer of 2004, Godin hired five interns—Amit Gupta, Catherine Hickey, Noah Weiss, Phoebe Espiritu and Michelle Sriwongtong—to build and develop the website.^[12] The website went live on August 14, 2004.^[13] Tom Peters, Chris Anderson, and Guy Kawasaki all had manifestos featured on ChangeThis.^[14] In July 2005, ChangeThis was turned over to 800-CEO-READ, the leading distributor of business literature in the United States.^[15][16]

Six month alternative MBA program[link]

In December 2008, Godin announced in a blog post that he would be offering a six month alternative MBA program at his office in Hastings on Hudson, NY.^[17] 48,000 people looked at the post and 340 applied. He invited 27 applicants to his office for a group interview. They spent two hours interviewing one another. After co-mingling, they and Godin together wrote down the names of their favorite candidates. Three weeks later the chosen 9 showed up at Godin's office.^[18] This group graduated in July 2009.^[19]

The Domino Project[link]

In December 2010, Godin announced on his blog that he would be working directly with Amazon on a venture called The Domino Project.^[20]

Stop Stealing Dreams (what is school for)[link]

In February 2012, Godin released a 30,000 word manifesto on Squidoo in response to the question "What do you think we ought to do about education?". This manifesto is "totally free to read, share, translate, print and, most of all, use to start an essential conversation". ^[21]

Books[link]

Godin is the author of 11 books; his Free Prize Inside was a Forbes Business Book of the Year in 2004,^[22] in its first two years of release, Purple Cow sold over 150,000 copies in more than 23 printings.^[23] The Dip was a Business Week and New York Times bestseller.^[24][25] And Godin has called his free ebook Unleashing the Ideavirus the most "popular ebook ever written".^[26] In the early 1990s he created a ten book series for children titled Worlds of Power, which was written by various writers. In each the plot of a single video game was told in a novelized form.^[27]

Beginning with Permission Marketing, Godin uses the concepts discussed in the books to promote the book. For Permission Marketing, Godin gave 1/3 of the book away for free to anyone who sent an e-mail. For Unleashing the Ideavirus, Godin released the entire eBook on the Internet for free, which led to eventual publishing deals in 41 countries and a public speaking career. For Purple Cow, Godin created a milk carton container for the book which generated attention from work colleagues. For Tribes, Godin launched an exclusive online community for the first 3000 people who pre-ordered the book. For Linchpin, Godin gave the book away for three weeks before its release for free to anyone willing to give $30 to the Acumen Fund for the $20 book, and raised $100,000 for the Acumen Fund.

Bibliography[link]

• Godin, Seth (1993). The Smiley Dictionary. Berkeley: Peachpit Press. ISBN 1-56609-008-3. 
• Godin, Seth (1995). eMarketing: Reaping Profits on the Information Highway. New York: Berkley Pub. Group. ISBN 0-399-51904-1. 
• Godin, Seth (1999). Permission marketing: turning strangers into friends, and friends into customers. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-85636-0. 
• Godin, Seth (2001). Unleashing the Ideavirus. New York: Hyperion. ISBN 0-7868-8717-6.  Book online - Detailing the idea of Viral marketing
• Godin, Seth (2002). The Big Red Fez: How To Make Any Web Site Better. New York: Free Press. pp. 112. ISBN 0-7432-2790-5. 
• Godin, Seth (2002). Survival is not enough: zooming, evolution, and the future of your company. New York: Free Press. ISBN 0-7432-2571-6. 
• Godin, Seth (2003). Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable. Portfolio. pp. 224. ISBN 1-59184-021-X. 
• Godin, Seth (2004). Free Prize Inside!: The Next Big Marketing Idea. Penguin USA Portfolio. pp. 256. ISBN 1-59184-041-4. 
• Godin, Seth (2005). All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World. Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN 1-59184-100-3. 
• Godin, Seth; the Group of 33 (2005). The Big Moo: Stop Trying to be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable. Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN 1-59184-103-8. 
• Godin, Seth (2006). Small Is the New Big: and 193 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas. Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN 1-59184-126-7. 
• Godin, Seth (2007). The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick). Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN 1-59184-166-6. 
• Godin, Seth (2008). Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync?. Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN 1-59184-174-7. 
• Godin, Seth (2008). Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us. Portfolio Hardcover. p. 160. ISBN 1-59184-233-6. 
• Godin, Seth (2010). Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?. Portfolio Hardcover. p. 256. ISBN 1-59184-316-2. 
• Godin, Seth (2011). Poke the Box. Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN 1-936719-00-2. 
• Godin, Seth (2011). We Are All Weird. The Domino Project. ISBN 1-936719-22-3. 

Blog[link]

Godin's Seth's Blog^[28] is ranked in the AdAge Power 150 as the #1 marketing blog out of 976 tracked. ^[29]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Seth Godin on TED
• Seth Godin at the Internet Movie Database
• Subvert Magazine interview
• Smart People Podcast - interview (2011)
• The Marketplace of Ideas - interview (2010)

This article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (July 2009)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2009)

Christophe Godin
Christophe Godin onstage with Morglbl somewhere in central New Jersey, May 2009.
Background information
Born	1968 Annecy, France
Genres	Blues Heavy metal Instrumental rock Jazz fusion Classical
Occupations	Guitarist
Instruments	Guitar, Vocals
Associated acts	Metal Kartoon Gno Mŏrgibl Trio 2G duet

Biography[link]

Christophe Godin (born 1968 in Annecy, France) is a French guitarist and singer, notable for his work with the famous French bands Metal Kartoon, Gnô and Mörglbl. Godin plays a variety of styles, including heavy metal, jazz fusion, blues and more.

Christophe Godin was on tour with some famous musicians, like Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal (Guns N' Roses), Andy Timmons (Danger Danger), Mattias Eklundh (Freak Kitchen), Kiko Loureira (Angra). Morglbl shared the stage with Liquid Tension Experiment (3/5 of Dream Theater plus Tony Levin on bass) at US biggest indoor prog festival, NEARfest in 2008 for the festival's 10th anniversary. He also played with Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big), Frank Gambale (Chick Corea), Jennifer Batten (Michael Jackson).

Godin is known for his sense of humour, virtuosic guitar skills, energetic performances and overall wacky personality. These traits can be best observed in one of his live performances, where he does both the vocals and guitar parts in the Jimi Hendrix classic "Little Wing". Instead of playing the chords as they would normally be played, Godin played the arpeggiated versions of those chords using the sweep picking technique, all the while singing in time with his playing.

Christophe Godin began his musical journey as a local guitar hero in several bands which, unfortunately, never left any trace.

In 1995, with Temple, Christophe played on an album that was properly distributed in France and received a wave of positive reviews.

In 1996, he took part on Guitare Attitudes, a compilation featuring French guitarists, that allowed him to regularly appear on the French TV show Nulle Part Ailleurs (Canal +) as a guest guitarist.

In 1997, he created, along with Ivan Rougny and Jean-Pierre Frelézeau, the Mörglbl Trio !! and released two albums ("The Mörglbl Trio !!" in 1998 and "Bienvenue à Mörglbl Land" in 1999). With this band, the doors to international distribution finally opened. In the meantime, Christophe, who's been a teacher at the E.T.M. of Geneva, Switzerland, since 1994 acquired a solid pedagogue reputation with the release of an instructional video (Heavy metal : les techniques) and the multitude of articles he wrote for dozens of guitar magazines. He became a regular guest at the M.A.I. of Nancy, France, and runs master-classes in the whole country.

In 2001, he created Gnô, with Gabriel Vegh (bass/vocals) and Peter Puke (drums/vocals), and releases "Trash Deluxe". Gnô was on tour intensively throughout France until 2003. Finally, simultaneously with his duo with Pierrejean Gaucher (the 2G,playing Frank Zappa covers alongside their original material ), Christophe, for the first time, formed his solo project under the name Christophe Godin's Metal Kartoon, which includes two violinists/pianists/singers, one bass player/singer, one drummer/pianist/singer and Christophe Godin. The band tours since 2004, and the album is released in the fall of 2005. All the ingredients that made the career of the guitarist what it is are to be found on this record: humour, virtuosity, and a mix of jazz, funk and metal.

Godin was voted fifth best international guitarist by Guitar Parts magazine.^[1]

Discography[link]

Temple

• Temple (1995)

Mörglbl

• The Mörglbl Trio!! (1998)
• Bienvenue à Mörglbl Land (1999)
• Grötesk (2007)
• Toon Tunes from the Past (2008)
• Jäzz for the Deaf (2009)

Gnô

• Trash Deluxe (2001)

Christophe Godin

• Christophe Godin's Metal Kartoon (2005)

Collaborations / Duos

• Christophe Chambert - The Family (1999)
• Rob Van Der Loo's Freak Neils Inc. (2004)
• 2G - Pierrejean Gaucher / Christophe Godin (2007)
• Samuel Arkan's Origins (2010)

Compilations

• Guitare attitudes rock influences (1996)
• Pour une Terre sans mines (1998)

2011 releases

• Gnô Cannibal Tango (CD)
• Chrtistophe Godin/Olivier-Roman Garcia (CD)
• Mörglbl Live DVD (DVD)

Equipment[link]

Christophe Godin is endorsed by Vigier electric guitars and Godin and Simon & Patrick acoustic guitars, Laney amps, Zoom effects Roctron srompboxes and Ernie Ball strings.

Electric guitars

• Vigier Christophe Godin Signature
• Vigier Excalibur Orangette
• Vigier Excalibur Supra Kartoonette
• Vigier Supra Yvette
• Vigier Excalibur Custom
• Vigier Excalibur Expert
• Vigier Supra 7 strings
• Vigier Surfreter
• 1 Fender The Strat

Acoustic guitars

• Simon & Patrick A3T
• Godin Multiac
• Godin 5th Avenue Cutaway
• Godin 5Th Avenue
• Vladimir Christophe acoustic guitar
• Mahalo Ukulele

Amps

• Laney GH50L
• Laney GH100L
• Laney VH100R
• Laney TT100
• Laney TFX 100
• Laney VC 50
• Laney Lionheart
• Laney VC15
• Laney LA65C
• Laney 4 x 12 Cabinets
• Laney 2 x 12 Cabinet
• Palmer 2 x 12
• Palmer The Junction
• Palmer ADIG-LB
• Zoom Fire 35

Effects

Stomboxes

• 3 Zoom PowerDrive overdrive pedals
• Rocktron Try Wah wha pedal
• Palmer overdrive
• Palmer chorus
• Stevens overdrive
• Badcat overdrive
• Uncle Sound Christophe Godin dostortion pedal
• Dunlop Cry Baby
• Onerr Cryin' wha pedal
• Guyatone wha rocker
• Jacques Trinity
• Rocktron Deep Blue chorus
• Ibanez chorus
• Danelectro chorus
• Badcat chorus
• Jacques Meisterstringer chorus
• Electro Harmonix Nano chorus
• Whammy II
• Presonus Blue Tube

Multis-effects

• Zoom Gt 9.2 tt
• Zoom 508 delay unit
• Zoom 509 modulator unit
• Zoom G2
• Zoom PFX-9003
• Zoom 707 II

References[link]

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (July 2009)

External links[link]

• Christophe Godin Official Site - Biography
• Christophe Godin Official Site - Equipment
• http://www.gno-music.com/
• http://www.myspace.com/morglbl
• http://www.myspace.com/christophegodin
• Zoom
• Christophe Godin Vigier Excalibur anniversary guitar

Ernie Ball (c.1930 – September 9, 2004) was an American entrepreneur, musician, and innovator, widely acclaimed as a revolutionary in the development of guitar-related products. He began as a club and local television musician and small business entrepreneur, building an international business in guitars and accessories that would eventually gross US$40 million a year.

Early years[link]

Born Sherwood Roland Ball in Santa Monica, California, USA, “Ernie” Ball grew up in a musical family. His grandfather wrote the standard, When Irish Eyes Are Smiling^[1] and his father was a car salesman who taught Hawaiian steel guitar on the side.^[2] Although Ball initially picked up the steel at age nine to please his father, he became bored and gave it up. In his early teens he began to take a renewed interest in the instrument, practicing as many as three hours a day. Within a year he was a member of the Musicians Union.^[3]

Musician[link]

While still in his early teens, Ball began playing professionally in South Central Los Angeles beer bars. By age 19 he joined the Tommy Duncan Band playing pedal steel guitar. Duncan, the former lead singer with Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, took the band on tour through the Southwestern United States. During the Korean War, he did a tour of duty in the United States Air Force Band, playing guitar and bass drum.^[4] After the military he returned to Los Angeles and continued playing in barrooms and lounges, until landing a job on the 1950s “Western Varieties” program at KTLA television.^[5] The position soon gained him wider recognition in the Los Angeles music scene and led to studio work and teaching jobs.^[6]

Entrepreneur[link]

Sometime in 1957 or 1958, Ball opened what was arguably the first music store in the United States to sell guitars exclusively, in Tarzana, California.^[7] When music sales reps criticized him for refusing to sell drumsticks and other instruments equipment, Ball replied, “I just want to sell guitars.” He was repeatedly told that a guitar store would never be a success, but the words rang hollow as people began to come from miles around to visit the shop.^[8] Eventually, the products spawned from his company would sell in more than 5,500 stores and be exported to more than 70 countries of the world.^[9]

"Slinkys"[link]

With the guitar-based rock revival of the 1960s, Ball noticed that beginning students were having difficulty playing the bestselling Fender #100 medium gauge strings, particularly in holding down or bending the stiff 29-gauge third ("G") string. At the time, it was common for a set of strings to have a "wound" third string. He approached the Fender company with the problem, suggesting a lighter gauge but was rebuffed. Ball convinced a string manufacturer to make him custom sets with a 24-gauge third string which he sold in his store.^[10] It was the beginning of the Ernie Ball brand. Located not far from Hollywood, the store began to attract a large patronage of professional musicians, including The Beach Boys, Merle Travis, and The Ventures. Ball also began to notice the practice of "slack stringing" among players who discarded the bottom sixth string and added a banjo first string on top. This resulted in an overall lighter gauge set with a plain third string. Again, he contacted Fender with a suggestion for a lighter set and was turned down. This time he continued the quest with Gibson who scoffed at the idea. So, once again he ordered from the manufacturer naming the product the Ernie Ball Slinky.^[11] "Slinky" strings traveled the country with the pro musicians who used them and before long, Ball was receiving mail orders from individuals and stores. Still not a string company, he ordered separate strings in various sizes and displayed them in a makeshift case allowing musicians to experiment in creating their own sets. It took off, and in 1967 he sold the store and moved his string business to Newport Beach, California.^[10]

Today Ernie Ball Slinkys are used by many world famous guitar players. A very small sampling of these guitarists includes:Slash, Buckethead, Juan Alderete, DJ Ashba, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Dave Coletta, The Edge, Daniel Wadley, John Fogerty, Charles Gallant, Synyster Gates, Delvin "Chickenscratch" Johnson, Janick Gers, Billy Googs, Buddy Guy, Steve Vai, Tommy Kessler, Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield, Albert Lee, John Mayer, Dave Navarro, Jimmy Page, Brad Paisley, John Petrucci, Omar Rodríguez-López, Mick Thomson, Chris Broderick, Daron Malakian, Angus Young, Christian Chestnut, Dave Murray, Curt Kirkwood, and Paul Gilbert.

Marketing innovation[link]

Ernie Ball did not create anything new—he simply saw a demand and improved upon existing products and found ways to better fulfill market demands.^[10] By the early 1970s he took the company global by establishing distributors in Europe and Asia.^[6] Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend and other rock icons were stringing up Slinkys, a trend that continues into the present, making Ernie Ball the second biggest string manufacturer in the country. He was unorthodox in his management methods, disregarding market surveys, preferring instead to test products in the marketplace to see if they would succeed.^[12] He regarded profit-and-loss as necessary evils and trusted his instincts. In the early eighties the company bought the Music Man Company, expanding into the production of high quality guitars, basses and amplifiers with Leo Fender making the instruments and Tom Walker building amps.^[13] Ball, along with former Fender employee, George Fullerton, was instrumental in the development of the first modern acoustic bass guitar, introduced under the Earthwood brand in 1972. Although unsuccessful, surviving models are highly collectable.^[14] In 1985, the company was moved to a new facility in San Luis Obispo and remained there with all of it operations until early 2003, when the company relocated its string manufacturing to Southern California’s Riverside County. Under his leadership it grossed more than $40 million per annum.^[15] The company established an annual Battle of the Bands contest and participated in other trade events nationwide.^[16]

Battle of the Bands[link]

In 1997, the very first Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands kicked off at the San Francisco Warped Tour. The Battle of The Bands 1 had 18 stops in its first year and developed into a long-lasting relationship with Kevin Lyman and The Warped Tour.^[17]

Personal life[link]

Ball had diverse interests including collecting cars, surfing and flying airplanes. He also authored a series of books and manuals on guitar playing. He was married and had three sons, Sherwood, David, and Sterling Ball, and a daughter, Nova.^[18]

Death[link]

Ball remained active in his company until his death 42 years after its founding. He died from an ongoing, undisclosed illness on September 9, 2004, leaving the business to his sons and other family members. He was buried near his home at San Luis Cemetery in San Luis Obispo, California.^[11]

See also[link]

• Michael DeTemple

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ernie Ball/Music Man Company
• Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands
• Guitar Player story Captured 7 April 2007

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