As we’re celebrating the industry in this, our first week of birthday fun, we thought we’d better talk a bit about our view of said industry.
Word of mouth is an approach that crosses disciplinary boundaries and embraces all different specialisms. It doesn’t sit in social media, or digital, or even marketing, but reaches across all business departments – retail, R&D, packaging, customer service, HR – to bring joined-up consumer insight and people-focused strategy to the company as a whole.
We therefore feel very strongly that agencies and practitioners involved in word of mouth must work together, rather than compete, to mutually advance the industry. There’s plenty of room for all kinds of specialisms, tools and platforms, and they all need to come on board to make word of mouth work in an integrated way.
Of course, that’s not as easy as it sounds, but it’s our starting point with every client and campaign.
It’s why Molly is President of WOM UK and on the DMA Social Media Council, Jacqui is on the WOMMA Measurement and Metrics Board, and James and Tim sit on the IAB. It’s why we write a monthly column in AdMap and articles for a load of different sector publications and attend many other events and workshops (see Meet us @ on the sidebar for upcoming stuff) to keep ourselves accessible and curious and challenged.
It’s why we’ve also started publishing case studies about the work we do. Some of these, such as our Nokia E72 deck, V&A showreel and Nokia Nav video, simply tell the story of the campaign and why it worked. However, we’re also developing a ‘How to’ series demonstrating how to achieve specific business objectives using word of mouth techniques.
Here’s our first, about the campaign we did for Tourism New South Wales.
It’s a conversation starter. Let us know what you think and point us towards your own. We want to move the industry conversation forwards from why WOM is important to how it works best.
Last night’s joint IAB and WOM UK debate, ‘Should social media be paid for?‘, was intended to be taken with a big pinch of salt. The two teams purposefully dug their heels in, ramped up the drama and pushed their views to the extreme to make the assembled crowd really question the possibilities and limits of paid advertising in the social space – but some genuinely interesting issues surfaced amongst the bombast.
On the ‘for’ side, Kate Box, Head of Social Media Sales at Microsoft Advertising, and Steve Filler, Commercial Director for Unruly Media, made the case that consumers don’t mind whether content is paid for. Brands need to act like brands, and they claimed that visibly advertising is more honest; paid advertising in the social space gets results, and is essential for the survival of the industry.
In the ‘against’ corner, I joined Ciarán Norris, Head of Social Marketing at Mindshare, to assert that paid media is, and should remain, by definition separate to earned or social media. Although paid can inspire social interaction, the independent social space is all about relationships, flourishing on a currency of status, passion, expertise and networking, and those can’t be bought. Interactive, digital, online PR and the like all have their place – but they’re not truly social media.
The votes came down on the side of ‘for’, but the atmosphere was lighthearted as both sides acknowledged that valuing one did not exclude the importance of the other, and that a mix of paid stimulation and inspired independent WOM and listening is best. For an idea of how an integrated view can look, it’s worth reading Neilsen’s Pete Blackshaw‘s recent post on Maximizing Super Bowl Advertising ROI in a Paid Vs. Earned Media Environment.
Some genuinely interesting grey areas also emerged. Where does inspiration end and payment begin, when brands are providing trials and freebies? Doesn’t the industry need to firm up its definitions so that brands don’t just think they’re ‘earning social’ by throwing a few interactive ads online? And isn’t it essential that brands don’t see social media attention as ‘free’ – more that they must pay for it in man hours for listening, responding and creativity, rather than cash?
If you couldn’t make it to the sold-out event, let us know your thoughts and questions below. We’re also looking to continue the series, so speak up about what you’d like to see debated next.
Having arrived back in Heathrow at midnight, I’m still dogged by jetlag and trying to assimilate the great eclectic beast that was WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association)’s 2009 Summit in Vegas, no less. With three days of keynotes, panels and case studies from some of the biggest US brands active in the WOM space such as Ford, HP and Coca-Cola, as well as research from the likes of Forrester Research, Nielsen and The Keller Fay Group, it was a mindblast of the latest theories and commercial applications of WOM.
Measurement was predictably high on the agenda. Clients are crying out for industry-wide standards, but there was an acknowledgment that meaningful metrics will be be different according to client objectives (visibility, sales, loyalty etc) and therefore project-specific education is still essential. Conversation relies on context, while most ad metrics are stand-alone and focused on scale alone. Consequently, the most successful examples of effective measurement involved a brand combining insights and figures from other departments (sales, eyeballs, customer services calls etc) with a broad range of qual and quant WOM data.
Internal ownership was also a massive issue, with some great sessions from IBM & Newell Rubbermaid and Mars on how they’ve integrated WOM listening and advocacy programmes into their existing structures and processes. This was related to an ongoing conversation about how Customer Services links with WOM. A panel including Pete Blackshaw from Nielsen, Frank Eliason from Comcast, Tom Asher from Levi Strauss, Denise Morrissey from Toyota and John Bernier from Best Buy looked at examples such as @TWELPFORCE and @comcastcares which fully integrate Twitter into CS. The main takeaway was: just try, keep communicating, and help employees learn and progress from their mistakes. Take the risk, and as long as your approach has integrity and strategy behind it, the benefits will be enormous.
Another highlight was Steve Knox from P&G’s Tremor using cognitive psychology to explain why customers talk – apparently if you disrupt their schema (the model in their head of how the world works and their assumptions about a brand) it’s WOM gold. And the panel of WOM academics tackling the toughest questions in the industry had some powerful messages, in particular the importance of overlooked visual, aural and offline WOM triggers; the need for research into geographical and cultural differences in behaviour; and the use of future visioning to sell in the value of WOM to brands: if we do or don’t engage this talkative customer, what will the impact be?
Steve Knox from Tremor on cognitive psychology. Spot me earnestly taking notes on my Mac…
On the flipside, some of the examples I saw were still too based around an old-school marketing approach. Isn’t a moderated, branded page or forum in an independent community (such as Tropicana for BlogHer) really just a microsite dressed up in social clothing? And as President of WOMMA’s sister organisation WOM UK, it was interesting to observe the differences in approach between the US and UK. I’m not sure that some of the more gung-ho, blatantly branded adovacy groups such as the Feld Family Activators at Mom Central would gain much traction in a nation that tends to be highly sceptical of associating itself so strongly with commerce. And some agencies were even stipulating time limits whereby participants were ‘expected’ to talk in return for goods or experiences – where’s the spontaneous, independent and heartfelt advocacy in that?
Overall it was a rich and stimulating event and I’m sure more thoughts and observations will trickle through across the next few weeks. For more, check out my live tweets from the Summit @WOMUK, as well as video highlights here and photos here. And if you want a more detailed lowdown on insights and issues raised, just drop me a line and I’d be happy to take you through it over a coffee… or indeed a Vegas-themed cocktail.
This morning I hosted a WOM UK Espresso Briefing where The Guardian’s commercial director Chris Pelekanou and ad planner Katherine Miall unveiled their new Word of Mouth database. By combining existing thinking around what makes people influential with their own piece of qual and quant research, they have developed a communications planning tool in the form of a database which allows companies and advertisers to understand the type of people they will want to target to ensure their content is rapidly and widely spread. Check out their presentation below.
It’s understandably oriented towards showing advertisers that Guardian readers are a particularly influential bunch, but Chris and Katherine hope that it will become integrated into media planning, helping advertisers to identify who will carry their message best.
There were two big questions raised by this for me. One was: but do these influential people trust advertisers – or each other? The model is based around pushing brand-created content, while social media is moving towards UGC. How keen are these socially savvy trendsetters to be seen pushing corporate messages? Chris’ intelligent response was that many influencers simply see brand content as one other piece of information – to be tested and repurposed, but to certainly form part of their melting pot of influences. It’s a good point, but there’s more work to be done investigating this, when so much research tells us of our increasing mistrust of advertising as consumers.
The other was: can they prove that this spread of content actually leads to action? These people are influential in repurposing and disseminating your message, but how influential are they in actually getting you a sale? Are there particular traits of character or behaviour that make their information make others act upon it?
You can see full details of their methods and findings here. It’ll be interesting to see how the model is adopted, and I’ll be keeping in contact with Chris and Katherine to see how it develops. We’ll keep you updated…
There’s a lot of buzz around word of mouth marketing, but many businesses and agencies are crying out to be educated on what this industry is really about, what it can do for them, and how they can get involved. That’s why I’m delighted to announce a couple of London-based upcoming events organised by WOM UK which will give two exciting and accessible perspectives on the WOM landscape as it stands.
First up on8.30amWednesday 30th September, The Guardian present their newword of mouth research study and communications planning tool that provides a practical framework for identifying influential people. Kicking off with breakfast and lasting until 10am at Guardian News & Media, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU, it’s an easy chance to squeeze in some learning, as well as some networking with top WOM practitioners, at the start of your day. Free to all; email julian.ferguson@womuk.org to sign up.
Then on8.30amWednesday 7th October, Emmanuel Rosen talks about ‘The Anatomy of Buzz (Revisited)’, the newly updated version of his WOM guide which topped the bestseller lists in 2001 and became an instant international classic. Drawing on his own experiences in high tech as well as hundreds of interviews with consumers, researchers and marketing executives, Emmanuel will discuss proven techniques for stimulating buzz. It’s another morning session lasting until 10.30am at Ogilvy & Mather, 10 Cabot Square, Canary Wharf, E14 4QB. Free to WOM UK members, £10 for everyone else; email julian.ferguson@womuk.org for a place.
As sponsors, we’ll be attending, blogging and fuelling discussions, so come along and say hi.
Yesterday afternoon saw my first board meeting as President of WOM UK and it was fantastic to witness the level of skill and commitment in the room. Word of mouth marketing is a young industry and it’s rare we get an opportunity to have a safe space to learn from our peers and share and challenge our thinking on the best, most effective and most ethical WOM practices. We’re asking our members exactly what their hopes, ideas, questions and concerns are for the future of WOM in the UK, but as part of a very global company, I wanted to throw this out to the big wide social mediasphere:
What would you like to see from the WOM industry over the next year?
I’m guessing responses are going to focus heavily on things like establishing coherent and consistent models for WOM ROI; constantly evolving ethical guidelines; more psychological as well as quantitative research into what makes people talk about brands and why; access to practical case studies; and demonstrations of how how offline and online WOM go hand in hand. But go on, surprise me…
A big call out is in order to the other WOM UK board members helping make the WOM industry in the UK the best it can be: Steve Barton from Advokator; Brad Little form Nielsen Online; Andrew Needham from Face Group; Ivan Palmer from Wildfire; Fleur Hicks-Duarte from Pass It On Media; Benn Achilleas from Neoco; Hamish Priest from Oglivy One; Alex Ricketts from Royal Mail; Rob Jenkins from Know; Atheer Al-Salim from Porter Novelli; Alan Parker from Golin Harris and Graham Hansell from Sitelynx. That’s a whole lot of expertise right there, and we want to hear your needs and ideas, whether you’re a brand, agency, bureau, marketer or just a social media fan.
I’m delighted to announce this morning that, as 1000heads WOM Evangelist, I’ve been voted in as the new President of WOM UK. WOM UK is the organisation the represents the word of mouth industry across the UK, aimed at establishing best practice and ethical guidelines, as well as educating marketers and clients alike about the benefits, methods and developments of WOM, and showcasing the best and most innovative companies and case studies operating out there.
It’s a fantastic opportunity to help spread the word and good work of a relatively young industry, working alongside international sister organisations such as the US-based WOMMA. I’m looking forward to collaborating with and learning from the great agencies and brands already on board (including such diverse members as Nielsen, Edelman, IPA, Unilever, Royal Mail and The Guardian) and bubbling with ideas about how to make WOM UK more relevant and dynamic and than ever. Whether you’re a dedicated WOM agency, an established company looking to branch out into conversational marketing, or any business, institution or brand wanting to approach WOM in the right way from the start, membership is a must. More to come!
Interesting ‘WOM espresso meeting’ this morning with various agencies and companies considering ‘What alternative media can do for your brand in a recession’.
Ivan Palmer from Wildfire presented a coherent and practical deck (which you can see here) about approaching word of mouth as a pervasive discipline, and Steve Barton from WOM UK (in which we are a governing member) chaired discussion around challenging assumptions around metrics, influence and quick wins. My favourite quote from Ivan: “you can’t just dip your toe in anymore. The time for experimentation is over, this is about long-term strategy”. If you’re interested in coming to the next one, focused on measurement, let Steve know. The bacon butties are particularly good.
A big call out is in order to the other WOM UK board members helping make the WOM industry in the UK the best it can be: Steve Barton from Advokator; Brad Little form Nielsen Online; Andrew Needham from Face Group; Ivan Palmer from Wildfire; Fleur Hicks-Duarte from Pass It On Media; Benn Achilleas from Neoco; Hamish Priest from Oglivy One; Alex Ricketts from Royal Mail; Rob Jenkins from Know; Atheer Al-Salim from Porter Novelli; Alan Parker from Golin Harris and Graham Hansell from Sitelynx. That’s a whole lot of expertise right there, and we want to hear your needs and ideas, whether you’re a brand, agency, bureau, marketer or just a social media fan.
Ivan Palmer from 