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WOM Marketing for a Cause: A WOMMA Member Focus
WOMMA members understand the value of word of mouth marketing. What's more, our member companies understand that when you couple a great marketing technique with a great cause, you get people talking.
Here are some examples of WOMMA member companies using WOM to spread the word about a cause:
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'Soul is Waterproof'
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New Orleans' tourism-based economy was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. According to Sarah Kissko Hersh of WOMMA member company Weber Shandwick, New Orleans is a tale of two cities: While the residential areas are still on the mend, the tourist districts are thriving. And it's increased tourism traffic that will help drive restoration efforts all around the city.
In an effort to amp up the New Orleans tourism industry, Weber Shandwick and the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau designed a 10-market media tour to bring the best of New Orleans culture to major metropolitan cities.
To showcase one of the historic elements of New Orleans' culture and create a mobile tourism office, the team brought one of New Orleans' iconic green streetcars to New York and Chicago for a "Street Car Tour" that was featured on "Good Morning America" and Chicago's "NBC Nightly News" and garnered coverage in The New York Times and Chicago Tribute. Part of the Street Car Tour also included the onsite distribution of a limited edition set of Mardi Gras-style doubloons, which can be redeemed at New Orleans hot spots. Visitors to the mobile tourism office could also register to win a trip to New Orleans.
According to Kissok Hersh, the message at the heart of the New Orleans tourism effort is, "The best thing you can do for New Orleans is to visit."
'Second Chance Trees Island'
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WOMMA member company Converseon recently partnered with nonprofit organization Plant-It 2020 to create a real-world reforestation effort with roots in Second Life. On the "Second Chance Trees Island" people can buy and plant a virtual tree for 300 Linden dollars (approximately $1.50), which triggers the planting of a real tree in regions affected by global deforestation.
Converseon and Plant-It 2020 planned to plant 1 million trees and use the Second Life virtual forest as an educational space for a series of environmental projects as part of the American Express Members Project competition, which awarded the top five winning projects between $1 million and $5 million to execute their cause.
While the project -- titled "Virtual Forest Project, One Million Trees. Easy." -- did not win the AmEx Members Project contest, it was able to drastically raise awareness. The project video was viewed 1,882 times on YouTube, more than 100 blog posts were written about Second Chance Trees, and Second Chance Trees Island had its most successful week ever, planting 139 rainforest trees.
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>> We'd love to feature your work in an upcoming issue of WOMMA Action Items. If your company is a WOMMA member and is using WOM to create buzz around a cause, we want to hear about it. Email editor@womma.org and let us tell your story.
To see more examples of cause marketing using WOM, visit the "Create a Cause" section of WOMMA's Case Study Library.