This guy has figured out how to be a marketing juggernaut. Borat, or Mr. Cohen, has combined comedic talent with viral marketing, underground buzz, and blatant promotion to create what will probably be a hugely lucrative stint. I have not yet seen his latest movie, but I plan to.

I mention it here because I have found more often than not, that if I listen to my student assistants (at a university), I will have a better than average sense of the latest craze somewhat ahead of its mainstream media debut. I’ve often come across some very impressive web applications long before they become popular (Flickr, MySpace and Delicous are a few that students turned me on to years ago).

In this case, I discovered Borat several months ago, but was tuned into his sub-culture popularity by an astute (yet misunderstood) high-school student named Jayson. Now that Borat is destined to hit the big-time, I’m sure that Jayson will move on to the next blockbuster, sub-culture craze. And I will be listening to him.