November 2006
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WOMMA's Word of Mouth Marketing Summit is just two weeks away, and we've got two brand new reasons for you to register:
1. Doug Walker, managing director of the World Rock Paper Scissors Society and co-author of "The Official Rock Paper Scissors Strategy Guide," will engage attendees in an exclusive networking event on Day One of the Summit. Learn how Walker turned Rock Paper Scissors from a game into a word of mouth phenomenon. Then, challenge your peers to a match!
2. Mentos' Pete Healy will keynote Day Two of the Summit. Learn why his company, maker of Mentos candy, embraced viral video and find out how he helped make the now famous Mentos/Diet Coke craze a word of mouth marketing success.
Plus, all attendees receive a free dinner, a free CD of conference audio, and three free books, including Greg Stielstra's "PyroMarketing," Debbie Weil's "The Corporate Blogging Book," and Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg's "Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?" So register today -- before it's too late!
Sign up
The Federal Trade Commission wrapped up its three-day "Protecting Consumers in the Next Tech-Ade" conference early this month. The conference explored the ways in which globalization and technology are impacting consumer protection. It featured experts from the business, government, and technology sectors, as well as consumer advocates and academics, all discussing how changes in demographics, marketing practices, and technology will affect future consumers. Discussion topics included internet marketing, blogging, social networking, and user-generated content.
By holding the conference, the FTC is following the example set by many of the businesses it oversees: placing consumers at the forefront of conversations about new marketing tools and techniques. WOMMA supports all such dialog and recently launched its new Practical Ethics program in full support of consumer protection.
Discover WOMMA's Practical Ethics program
Learn more (FTC Tech-ade Blog)
Learn more (FTC)
Super Bowl advertisements are big, sure, but if you ask Dove, viral marketing is bigger. The Unilever brand created a 75-second viral film, titled "Evolution," that has received more than 1.7 million views on YouTube -- a fraction of the 500 million impressions gained by its 2006 Super Bowl spot, but impressive given its comparative ROI. While its 30-second spot for the Super Bowl cost $2.5 million, Dove's YouTube upload cost nothing and generated three times the traffic on its "Campaign For Real Beauty" website. Dove owes its success in large part to bloggers, who have made its clip one of the Top 15 most-linked-to videos in the blogosphere.
Learn more (MarketingVox)
Learn more (AdAge)
Hoping to spark conversations among young consumers, the United States National Guard this month became the first major U.S. advertiser to sponsor a network of electronic "laundry boards" in college dormitories nationwide. While the boards, conceived of by WOMMA member company Alloy Media + Marketing, will initially contain more traditional advertisements, they will eventually include viral marketing techniques, too -- including "clings," whereby marketers place or distribute items with ads attached to them in order to generate buzz within a community of consumers.
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Sears has launched a unique website especially for holiday shoppers designed not only to help them find gifts, but also to discuss potential purchases with other consumers. The website, www.readysetholiday.com, reaches out to moms, in particular, with a "Mom-to-Mom" discussion board, where shoppers can share peer-to-peer product reviews and shopping tips, and a "Kidzone," where users can send one another e-cards with their wish lists, holiday greetings, etc. The social shopping site is just one example of how word of mouth marketing is changing not only how consumers shop, but also how companies sell.
Learn more (Sears)
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BMW has found viral marketing success with a recent email campaign designed for its Mini division. Users who visit Mini's website can design their own car, which drives across their screen and spells out a personalized message with its tire tracks. Users can share their message and their car with friends by emailing them a link to Mini's website. By sending the hyperlink rather than the message, Mini not only enables word of mouth, but drives traffic to its website, too.
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Since its July launch, social networking site Bebo Bands has recruited more than 120,000 groups and artists, according to WOMMA member company Bebo, which operates the music-sharing website. The company attributes much of its success to word of mouth among both musicians, who can share information with their "groupies" via member profiles, and music fans, who can make recommendations to one another via sharable playlists and discussion boards. Allowing users to freely share music while they network with friends has proven especially successful for new artists who want to market their music to young listeners.
Learn more
WOMMA is accepting submissions for its first annual case studies competition. We're looking for word of mouth wave-makers to contribute to our library of the best word of mouth tips and techniques. Send us your coolest campaigns and your most successful solutions.
Submit your case study by Nov. 17 to enter our competition for the first annual Wommie Awards, our "best of" honors. Case studies will be judged by a special committee of WOMMA members. Wommie winners will have the opportunity to present to a crowd of the industry's biggest names at our Word of Mouth Marketing Summit Dec. 12-13 in Washington, D.C.
Enter to win a Wommie
Dell last week became the first company to publicly commit itself to the WOMMA Ethics Code as part of WOMMA's new Practical Ethics program. Dell announced its ethics pledge Thursday to coincide with the launch of WOMMA's Ethics Adoption Toolkit, a collaborative ethics document library for companies that want to make a formal commitment to ethics in word of mouth marketing.
The Ethics Adoption Toolkit includes all the pieces -- including sample letters, contracts, press releases, and more -- that companies might need to make ethics an official policy within their organization. It is the third tool in WOMMA's new Practical Ethics program, which gives companies the tools they need to prevent unethical marketing practices before they start.
View the toolkit
ExpoTV.com, home to more than 12,000 consumer-generated product reviews, has launched a new tool on its website to recognize and reward helpful word of mouth. The "Pay-Per-Play" system, designed by WOMMA member company Expo Communications, awards users with PayPal credits when their reviews are deemed especially useful by other consumers. The concept encourages genuine, helpful word of mouth not only by giving consumers an incentive to spread it, but also by giving them the power to define what's useful.
Learn more
The Portland Trail Blazers have created the first ever official social network for a professional basketball team. In partnership with social network vendor Affinity Circles, the Trail Blazers have launched an online community in which fans can use their passion for the team, its players, and the sport in general to connect with one another. While there are already dozens of fan-supported sites on the internet dedicated to NBA teams, the Trail Blazers hope their platform will be a comprehensive destination for fans who want to create profiles, join discussion groups, share photos, and post blogs, which will enable the team to better engage, involve, and, ultimately, grow its fan base.
Learn more (NBA)
Learn more (Internet News)
Every day, blogs are growing in number, use, and influence. And as they engage with them, companies must learn to become more open, transparent, and accountable. To help marketers adapt, WOMMA has released for public comment its Ethical Blogger Contact Guidelines, a powerful ethics tool designed to assist marketers in deciding how to effectively and ethically communicate with bloggers.
The second tool in WOMMA's new Practical Ethics program, the Blogger Contact Guidelines gives marketers a 10-item checklist to use in making sure they are always appropriate and ethical when communicating with bloggers.
View the guidelines and submit a comment
The Washington Post has added a comments function to its website, enabling conversations among its online readers. The new feature allows users to discuss all articles on Washingtonpost.com, including columns and editorials in the paper's "Opinions" section. "We feel reader interaction is a foundation of strategy to give readers the tools to be part of the global conversation about news and issues," said executive editor Jim Brady. The Post had temporarily suspended comments on its writers' blogs due to inappropriate posts by some users, but the new, expanded comments function demonstrates a renewed commitment to the consumer voice.
Learn more (Washington Post)
Learn more (MediaPost)
Google has a new goal: turn webmasters into brand evangelists. The goal materialized last month when the search giant announced plans to open its Gadgets platform to web developers. Long available for users to add to the Google homepage and Google Desktop, developers will now be able to use the company's widgets within their own web pages, too. The widgets access data from other Google services, such as Calendar or Maps, and are an easy way to add dynamic content to web pages. The move is unique because Google is not only sharing content with developers, but is also encouraging developers to share their own gadgets and code with each other. The end result, according to Google: A virtual community of "enthusiastic consumers."
Learn more (Google)
Learn more (CNET News)
Levi's jeans are going viral thanks to a new campaign that has consumers creating their own ads online. When they visit the Levi's website, users can create a custom advertisement using their own photos, and can email the result to their friends. What makes the campaign truly effective, however, is the incentive Levi's is giving its customers: Visitors who create and forward an ad receive free shipping on purchases of $75 or more when their ad has been viewed by at least three people.
Learn more (BizReport)
Learn more (DM News)
FTC Starts Consumer-Protection Blog to Cover Discussion
Learn more (MediaPost)
Grupthink.com Lets Consumers Poll Each Other
Learn more (Grupthink.com)
Learn more (Wall Street Journal)
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