The world as we know it is being shaken quiet heavily recently. But to me, as a future marketer, something totally different has made me think.

After the protests in Tunisia, revolution spread fast throughout the Maghrib and the Arabic world. Japan, on the other side, has been shaken very literally. Which, then again, has others shaken with fear. Here and there, voice are being raised to re-think our own nuclear plants, and that, just maybe, we should finally accept that nuclear energy really is risky business. Ms. Merkel of Germany is the first to lead this debate. A rather hypocritical one, if you ask me. That debate, I mean. But agreed, you didn't ask me. So on to other things.

Most probably, you will already have heard of a certain Bieber guy. Just a moment there, I've been tempted to put an 'a' instead of the 'u', but that would be a way too easy 'joke'. Besides, it's none too original, as thousands of others wisecrackers have already let this one slip out. Anyway.

The story is that this young Canadian was discovered on YouTube and that none other than Usher and Justin Timberlake fought to get him to sign on their labels. In the end, Usher 'won', and so began the music career for young Justin.

However, behind the scenes of the 'Bieber Fever', the really genie is one Scott Braun. In an interview with Forbes, he sheds a light on his strategy. It is a brilliant piece of making use of fans on the Internet and through social media. When he couldn't get labels to sign for Bieber, he made him do more YouTube clips, until no one could pass by the success the 'cute guy' had. He made sure that not the label, but the fans spread the word. Prosumers, mostly young teenage girls, create fanpages and follow and publish and share each and every one of Biebers' sneezes. Beliebers, they are called. They are the ones who scream there lungs out when they merely here JB's name – and pass out afterwards. Well, there is no disputing about tastes, I suppose.

This Bieber marketing is perfectly orchestrated, of course. And one would think using it twice would not work... Think again. Belgium now had its own Bieber. The 13-year old goes by the name of Ian Thomas. He as well, started on YouTube doing Bieber adaptations. It is amazing to see how just the hair can make two people look alike.

However, seeing Ian Thomas, it almost makes me appreciate Bieber. It makes me kind of sad to see that today's music industry is more and more going after Bieber's target group. At least they still buy CDs, you can't blame them. So if you care for joining me in my cause for the de-Biebering of the music industry, stop downloading. Start buying again.