December 2005
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You know you've "made it" when you make The Onion. The publication recently ran a satire on stealth marketing, featuring a fictional teenager going to ridiculous extremes to praise a fictional drink called Mountain Dew True Blue. The headline: "I'd Love This Product Even If I Weren't A Stealth Marketer."
While it's a funny read, the story is also a bad sign for our industry. WOMMA continues to make sure unethical practices like those described in the article are not what our members support. We will continue to educate the industry and the public about the difference between honest word of mouth and stealth. Expect to see more from WOMMA on this front as we step up our education efforts in 2006.
Read The Onion story:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/43456
Download the Word of Mouth 101 white paper:
http://www.womma.org/content/womma_wom101.pdf
It's hard to get people to talk about ice cream, so Edy's went a different route. In a promotion called Random Scoops of Sweetness, Edy's Ice Cream is inviting individuals to submit stories about friends who have helped someone in need at Edys.com. The ice cream maker will then choose 50 of the "sweetest" stories and reward their generosity with a free carton of ice cream.
This is fundamental WOM. Edy's is involving customers not by asking for referrals, but asking them to talk about the good deeds they notice in a natural, organic way. It's a conversation starter with built-in viral components.
More info:
http://randomscoops.edys.com/randomscoops
Google generated a swirl of buzz in October when they invited their business partners to a partner event that was closed to the public. The reality is that these partner events, or client summits as they are sometimes referred, can be a great way to inspire word of mouth. Bringing your company's core constituencies together to rally the troops and make them feel special is how you get people talking.
The software industry has been doing this for years. Microsoft hosts hundreds of events for their key developers and vendors, AOL holds partner events in Virginia for their Shopping Channel clients, and eBay has their eBay Live meeting for their best sellers.
Read the MediaPost article
(free registration required)
Predicting which TV shows will succeed and which will fail used to be extremely difficult. New research services that measure online buzz, including those from WOMMA members BuzzMetrics and Brandimensions, reversed that trend by tracking conversations in online chat rooms, blogs, newsgroups, and email lists. These buzz measurement tools accurately predicted several shows would become ratings winners after being dismissed by traditional media research.
More than ever before, the voice of consumers has the capacity to reposition TV programming on a large scale. Everything is affected -- from deciding which shows to "green light" to deciding whether or not to kill characters or storylines. Of course, advertisers are also starting to use this data to influence their ad buys as well.
More info:
ZDNet story
Brandimensions story
BuzzMetrics story
Pulitzers Open to Online Journalism
Read the full story
Word of Mouth Generates $3.3 Billion for Restaurants
Read the full story
(free registration required)
WOMMA has launched a mix of brand new content aimed at teaching the best ways to do ethical word of mouth marketing. Entitled Word of Mouth Basic Training (WOMBAT), the new "how-to" series rolls together a blog, RSS feeds, podcasts, and a companion email newsletter. In its first two weeks, the blog has featured nearly a dozen how-to's, tipsheets, and podcasts from various experts such as Fred Reichheld, Jackie Huba, Ed Keller, George Silverman, and more.
Read the blog and listen to the podcasts:
http://www.womma.org/wombat/blog
See a sample issue:
http://www.womma.org/wombat/newsletters/wombat_1.02.htm
At the BlogOn 2005 Social Media Summit, Randall McAdory, manager of business intelligence and interactive marketing for DaimlerChrysler, shared tips on the impact of social media on marketing.
* Learn what influencers are saying about you.
DaimlerChrysler sought out the opinion of auto enthusiasts since they carry great influence over the car purchasing decisions of their friends and family.
* React to feedback quickly when appropriate.
The automaker had contingencies in place to react quickly should negative feedback from a two-door sedan prove too damaging.
* Use third-parties to understand Web sentiment.
DaimlerChrysler used research firm Brandimensions to obtain frequent updates on Web sentiment surrounding its multiple brands.
Learn more
With so many holiday season fundraising efforts, it can be difficult for any individual group's message to be heard. Keep A Child Alive, a non-profit that works to bring AIDS medicines to Africa. The organization released a benefit single on the iTunes Music Store and is donating all the proceeds to AIDS relief. According to Marc Schiller of Electric Artists, the difference here is that all promotion is being done solely by word of mouth via blogs and emails. No traditional advertising has been involved.
More info:
http://www.keepachildalive.org/news_press.shtml
http://www.electricartists.com/corporate/news/20051201122645/
Yahoo! has enhanced its online shopping sites with new word of mouth tools that lets customers more easily communicate with each other. New to the site are Pick Lists -- a list of favorites items that consumers can compile. Taking it a step further, Yahoo! opened up each list so that others can post comments. In addition, lists can be shared easily on blogs and web sites via RSS feeds.
More info:
http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3564096
Only 7% of CEO's are blogging and only 18% plan to start in the next two years. Those are the results of a joint survey conducted by PR Week and Burston-Marsteller.
Even though many CEO's are not blogging themselves, they do still continue to value them as a mode of communication.
Other findings include:
* 47% called blogs useful for internal communications
* 59% called blogs useful for external communications
* 41% favor blogs for communicating news and ideas quickly
* 36% favor blogs for collecting feedback
Learn more
The new film 'Serenity' is using word of mouth to become a hit, taking in more than $10 million in its first weekend of release at the start of October.
Rather than rely on a big ad campaign ala the old days of Hollywood, the film's producer started the buzz for his offering by showing the movie to select audiences several months before its official release date. His target was fans of the old TV show, Firefly, on which the movie is based. So far, the movie seems to be a bigger hit than the failed Fox TV version ever was.
More info:
http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_431.asp
Word of mouth efforts targeting viewers were a major part of TV networks marketing efforts as the new season began this fall. NBC set up 1000 house parties attracting 5300 people across the country for its The Biggest Loser show while Fox sent people to 100 tattoo parlors to show patrons early screenings of its new show Prison Break. Street teams for the Fox prison drama also offered people free head shaves and henna tattoos.
More info:
http://www.livejournal.com/community/wireless_news/58079.html
Esquire magazine has invited fans to write a song with noted performer John Mayer. Mayer posted lyrics he wrote recently on the Esquire site and asked aspiring writers to provide music. Winners will be posted on the Esquire site where the authors can invite friends to come listen to them.
The end goal is to bring more traffic to the Esquire site and help it connect with a younger demographic than it might otherwise reach.
More info:
http://esquire.com/features/articles/2005/050804_mfe_mayer.html
Hispanics tend to be more passionate about brands they like, or dislike, than non-Hispanics, reports a study from the Strategic Research Institute. Hispanics are more likely than others to stop shopping at stores where they feel they are treated rudely. They're also 34% more likely to talk about how they stopped using a brand because they weren't delighted with it.
More info:
http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/pressrelease.cfm?id=2704
Why WOM Works: eMarketer's CEO Speaks Out
Read the full story
Marketing Open Source Software
Read the full story
Filmmaker Robert Greenwald is using WOM as he takes on Wal-Mart with a new film. He's screening his movie in churches and inviting visitors to his web site to download it and hold screenings of their own. Screenings also are being held at colleges and community centers. Hollywood studios had passed on distributing the film to theaters.
Greenwald's site also asks visitors to email friends and become active in his anti-Wal-Mart efforts. His movie, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price talks about the giant retailer's impact on small towns.
More info:
http://www.walmartmovie.com/help.php
Staples has crafted a major advertising campaign around its Easy button, a symbol for the retailer's efforts to make shopping at its stores and on its website easy for customers.
Now the button is becoming a WOM vehicle as Staples has decided to sell Easy buttons that, when pushed, say: "That was easy."
More info:
http://www.adrants.com/2005/10/staples-sells-easy-button.php
Mypetfat.com has used a variety of WOM techniques to sell more than three tons of its product across the U.S. and in 15 other countries.
The site sells replicas of fat along with dieting tips. Founder Jay Jacobs has given away free copies of a book available on the site to drum up interest. He's also taken 100 pounds of his mypetfat to Times Square in his mypetfat wagon, taking pictures of people with the fat and gathering their email addresses in return.
More info:
http://www.mypetfat.com
Consumers motivated by word of mouth spend 9% more online than other consumers, according to new research from Forrester. Roughly 51% of WOM online consumers have made purchases in the past three months. The best way to motivate them is with campaigns that allow them to send offers for freebies to friends. Games, music downloads and competitions also work, the research found.
Other key findings include:
* WOM consumers earn 10% less than other online buyers.
* 67% of WOM online consumers call themselves technology
optimists vs. 57% for other online consumers.
* Only 28% of online WOM consumers have college degrees
compared with 37% of other online consumers.
More info:
http://internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=16342
Forrester report excerpt
Buzzoodle: How to Drive Traffic to Your Blog
Read the full story
Hosting.com: Hosting Companies "Overselling Buzzwords"
Read the full story
Globat.com Sells Pixels for Katrina Victims
Read the full story
Product placement in TV and movies is not new. As product placement has morphed into the subtle, stealth-like "product integration", the lines of advertising and content have blurred. The Writers Guild of America, Screen Actors Guild, and USC Annenberg School for Communication are calling for a new code of conduct to set guidelines and limits on how products are integrated into storylines.
Like WOMMA's own efforts to halt the spread of stealth marketing in word of mouth marketing, the proposed code identifies "full and clear disclosure" as the main solution.
Read the WGA white paper.
Marker's Mark Distillery of Loretto, Kentucky took something as traditional as bourbon whiskey and built a community around it. The distillery invited its customers to become "Ambassadors" and spread the word about its products. In return, the Ambassadors receive various goodies, including a limited edition DVD to give to friends, access to a private members-only web site, and more.
The distillery then makes its customers a part of the company itself (literally). Each Ambassador's name is engraved on a new barrel of Maker's Mark bourbon whiskey.
More info:
http://www.makersmark.com
Job: Electric Artists (New York, NY) is seeking a Senior Account Executive to manage client projects. Position is based in New York. Email resume to jobs@electricartists.com.
>> Make a new hire? Have an open WOM, viral, or buzz job
opening? E-mail editor@womma.org and let us know!
Most of the time, you hear from a vendor's billing department when you owe them money. How often does a company get in touch with you to check if they owe YOU money?
That's exactly what Discovery Communications did. In October, Discovery's Accounts Payable department sent clients a letter not only thanking them for their business, but asking if the firm owed them money!
Vendors get a bad rap, but this is one case where good customer service garnered some great word of mouth.
More info:
http://www.discovery.com
Creating a fun game for people to play is one method to get people talking. All too often, though, the games don't include any sort of feature to let people spread the word quickly about it. To promote the new King Kong movie opening in December, Inbox Digital created a cute Mario-like video game called "King Kong Jump". Not only is the game cute and fun, but easy-to-use WOM tools are built in, too. Players are invited to tell a friend or even start a league with others.
More info:
http://www.kingkongjump.com
People will talk about interesting products and services, even if they're not always from "cool" companies.
After St. Louis-based Crack Team created a cute mascot called Mr. Happy Crack, WOM spread almost instantly. Fans started posting photos on Flickr. The cute icon was written up by the Wall Street Journal and even mentioned by Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show."
Crack Team doesn't manufacture tech gadgets or have anything to do with Paris Hilton. It's a foundation repair business. That's right. The company fixes leaky basements.
And in the interest of full disclosure, a package arrived in the WOMMA mailbox last week with a plethora of Mr. Happy Crack memorabilia. A handwritten note was included: "The Crack Team corporate policy dictates that if you say nice things about us online, we will send you some stuff."
More info:
http://www.mrhappycrack.com
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