Today we bring you the first Word of Mouth win of the week from OXO. And it comes in the super-traditional form of a TV ad.

The ad itself tells the story of OXO’s new product (Squeezy Stock) through a conversation: an online video call between a father and son.

Essentially, the act of recommendation is being promoted as much as the product. It’s face to face, it’s online, it’s peer to peer – but it’s an ad. It’s an interesting mash-up of social, traditional and digital media.

This is a welcome reminder that Word of Mouth happens when we’re barely conscious of it. As we mention time and again, the majority of conversation occurs in the real world, playing out in people’s everyday lives – and in places where brands can’t always observe or capture it. In this example, even though the conversation is brokered using a digital tool, Oxo would probably never know that this valuable piece of brand advocacy ever took place.

So what’s my point? Firstly brands shouldn’t become so fixated on social media that they forget they have an opportunity to be part of peoples’ real life conversations.  And secondly, traditional and social communications are not in opposition – when they work together it makes a lot of sense.

Tags: brand advocacy, offline WOM, WOM, word of mouth