Frontiering Talk

A french company called BuzzParadise has just launched. Their aim is to connect influential consumers (bloggers, experts, passionate consumers…). with Brands, helping to design brand communication campaigns, using word of mouth to spread key brand messages. They are hoping to create a platform that allows opinion leaders to take part in VIP events, providing exclusive information or the ability to be the first to test products.

The business model is similar to Bzzagent where lots of consumers are recruited to test and try new products, talk about them and provide feedback to brand owners. However, BuzzParadise states that is seeks the thoughts of “Opinion leaders” or influencers .. which I think is a far more potent strategy, capitialising on word of mouth marketing.

Recruitment of “opinion leaders” can be a difficult and expensive process, but if done correctly, a very powerful extension of a marketing team.

Note: The BuzzParadise website is in French, to view in English, go to Babelfish and paste http://www.buzzparadise.com/ into the “Translate a webpage” section, and select French to English.
Update: English version now available http://www.buzzparadise.com/en_sommaire.php3

via fluido

Tags: WOM

P&G is launching a influencer site aimed at Mum’s.

The site promises early access to products and samples and the ability to tell big companies what your think of these samples.
In exchange for receiving these early product samples, usuage information and other discounts, mothers will be asked to share their opinions, fill out surveys, and participate in new product trials.

P&G previously launched the Tremor site, which is aimed at selecting and then marketing to influencial teens.

In times where it is more and more difficult to communicate new products due mostly to the clutter of mediums, this is a great initiative that is sure to provide great consumer insight to P&G about the potential of their new products and also identify needs stakes for future products.

Experiencial Marketing defined by the CMO magazine as

(A type of marketing that attempts to evoke a strong emotional response, often by the use of sensory techniques, to create an affinity between a product and a potential buyer. Used by companies such as Apple Computer to create an aesthetically driven consumer purchase.)

or Marketing a “Product Experience”, is one of the key factors in generating “word of mouth”.

Tags: WOM

Dell has launched an interesting advertising campaign by creating a mini-site within the Myspace website to promote their Dell Ditty mp3 player.

Mitch seen above is already somewhat of a media personality. Dell has placed several movie clips of Mitch providing entertaining clips of playing air guitar, lip syncing and rhythm muscle. This is a pretty good attempt by Dell at marketing to generation Y, by associating their IPOD Shuffle competitor with the Myspace music and social community giant. To evidence the power of word of mouth on social networking sites, Mitch already has over 10,350 Myspace friends! And just like Motorola’s sponsorship of the Dack Dorm Boys, it is a great example of online fame, although rather than sponsor someone that is already famous online, Dell have essentially sponsored Mitch’s rise to stardom.

Via Fluido

Tags: Social Network, WOM

coBRANDiT attended the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association’s WOMBAT conference last week in Orlando as official videobloggers.

They interviewed many key players in the WOM and online marketing/advertising space asking questions about WOM vs. advertising, web video, consumer generated media etc.

Interviews with Pete Blackshaw (Intelliseek) Steve Rubel (Micropersuasion) Mark Kingdon (Organic) Bob Garfield (AdAge) David Fletcher (MediaLab UK) Jamie Tedford (Arnold) Steve Friedman (Weblogs) and a bunch of others.

Check it out

Tags: WOM

HearThis.com has launched a podcasting service specifically for marketers and it will especially appeal to the non-technical savyness of many of them. They call it a “natural extension of your current communications efforts.” It works using a tool that every marketing person has .. the phone!.

Oh and while you are there, listen to some of these Podcasts dedicated to “word of mouth” marketing.

Tags: WOM

Andy Sernovitz who is WOMMA’s CEO, does a pretty good job here of explaining Word of Mouth.

He lists the 5 steps as

1. Talkers
Volunteers, customers, bloggers
Influencer, agent, evangelism programs
2. Topic
Special offer, great service, new product
Viral campaign, buzz stunt, new feature
3. Tools
Tell-A-Friend form, forwardable email, coupon
Message board, online communities, blogs
4. Take Part
Join blog & message board conversation
Outreach teams, campaigns by PR and customer service
5. Track
Blogpulse, Feedster, Technorati, Google
Advanced metrics program, trend analysis

Tags: WOM

I think digital or internet marketing provides many opportunities for a far richer experience with a brand, than can be accomblished by a 30 second tv ad. However, relevance is key!
I recently purchased a new surfboard, and in doing research for the board, was happy to scan / read / watch hours of advertising related to the topic. So what did I do?

1. Word of mouth. I started by seeking advice from all the surfers I know to help narrow down the search.
2. Online Search. I then attempted to search for information and advertising online about surfboards. Real stories from real consumers talking about their experiences. Whilst this was great, I realised that unlike Globally available electronics goods, the surfboard market has so many players that it is really difficult to clean specific purchase advice, that can be followed up by a purchase at my local surf shop.
3. Off to the shops. Visiting a few of the local surf shops, it became clear that they promoted their current stock range.
4. Test my research online and with my friends, and decide on the length and type of board.
5. Phone around a number of shops to identify the best price.
6. Purchase the board.

So what would I recommend to Surfboard manufacturers?

1. First, a web site explaining which board should be used in which surf for which level of surfer? (some do),
2. Offer of free or discounted “learn to surf” dvd’s.
3. Podcasts, blogs, forums to provide additional information about their boards, and consumer experiences.
4. Videos of real people, surfing on the manufacturers board.
5. Sell direct to consumers. Why can’t one of them sell direct (like Dell)?
6. Providing Link ups to local surf schools, local clubs to turn the sale into a community invitation.
7. Guarantees to buy the board back in 12 months time when upgrading to the next board.

Surfing is an experience, and I think the board manufacturers are too heavily relying on the surf store distribution network, instead of capitalising on recommendations from friends, linking to local surfing groups, and providing information to enrich the experience.

Tags: WOM

Proven again .. Word of Mouth carries the most influence!

Over 15,000 respondents answered detailed questions on the influence of various media in making a purchase and the results show more dissimilarities than similarities across demographic and ethnic groups. The issue of influence becomes even more complicated when a product category is added to the equation.

The Top 10 Influential Media

Overall Electronic Purchases
All Ages All Ages

1. Word of Mouth 1. Word of Mouth
2. TV 2. Read Article
3. Coupons 3. TV
4. Newspaper Inserts 4. Newspaper Inserts
5. Read Article 5. Magazines
6. Direct Mail 6. Internet
7. Magazines 7. In-store Promotion
8. In-store Promotion 8. Email Advertising
9. Cable TV 9. Cable TV
10. Internet Advertising 10. Newspaper

The age of respondents also impacts the influence media will have on purchase products. For example, for electronics purchases:

The Top 10 Influential Media for Electronic Purchases
18-24 Year Olds

1. Word of Mouth
2. TV
3. Magazine
4. Internet
5. Read Article
6. In-store Promotion
7. Cable TV
8. Coupons.
9 Email Advertising
10. Direct Mail

Source: BIGresearch, COLUMBUS, OH — (MARKET WIRE) — 12/20/2005

Tags: WOM

Myspace has surpased 25 million unique users per month!
Heavy.com is around 10 million users in a month, and now a new social network site called Vidilife is using online videos to atract consumers. Vidilife was set up by Brad Greenspan, a 32-year-old Internet entrepreneur who helped co-found Myspace, but left prior to the Newscorp buyout.

Traffic to Vidilife, has been promising so far with 220,000 unique users in October, after launching in September, according to Internet ratings agency comScore Media Metrix. That’s a long way behind Myspace who has been around almost 2 years, but it’s a pretty good result for a site with no marketing, other than word of mouth. It does a pretty good job of providing “send to friend”, “invite friend” features. Traffic growth, like Myspace comes from people wanting to showcase their own videos with their friends, then finding other consumer generated content of interest, and then sharing interesting content with their friends.

Lord of the Rings fans will delight in this video, aptly named “Lord of the Taco“.

As the social networking marketplace hots up, the ability to link Video’s stored on Vidilife to consumers Myspace sites could mean that Vidilife becomes the specialist consumer video vault.
However, Myspace is sure to be thinking about adding it’s own video capabilities. Watch this (I mean “My”) space!

Tags: Social Network, WOM

Reading Ian McKee’s The Power of Influence blog about Using New Marketing to Prove New Marketing I decided to read and express interest in this fascinating initiative. Basically, Joseph has offered to give a free copy of his book to “Blogger Evangelists” in return for a reviewing the book.

Joseph Jaffe, who writes the Jaffe Juice blog, wrote to me last night accepting my offer to write a review of his book, “Life after the 30-second spot“. Judging from Joseph’s blog, I am sure the book will be educational and entertaining, but I will write an honest review on Frontiering Talk in a few weeks after I have read the book.

What I wanted to highlight today, was my interest in the effect this initiative will have on the sales of his book. Judging by the 80 or so requests that have been made in response to this initiative since his article on Nov 8th, I think it will be a great success. 60 highly influencial people writing reviews which are read by 1000’s of readers. Word of Mouth Marketing (or in this case “Word of Pen”) should make a big impact!

I wish Joseph well with this initiative.

Tags: WOM

There is certainly a trend towards personalisation, as discussed at length by Trendwatching in their May 2005 article.

Here’s an interesting spin on personalisation with a design your own coffin! Aired on Dragon’s Den tv show last week in Australia, Life Art has created a business that makes coffins from recycled and biodegradable products.

The artwork, is printed on stickers and then applied to the outside to produce a very personalised coffin. The cost is around the same as existing wooden coffins. You certainly have a captive audience, and I am sure this product will spread through word of mouth. I think this is a great idea and I wish the business well. Now .. I wonder how much I could get for selling some ad space on the sides?

Tags: WOM

Having just come back from my 8th China trip, I was again impressed by the continued growth and dynamic changes that were noticeable from when I was last there in Jan 2005.

Presenting at the Ad-Tech Conference in Shanghai, I made some really excellent contacts which I will refer to in more detail over the next few weeks.

Today, I want to touch on the incredible volume of Chinese online voices that resonate via bulletin boards, and blogs. In part due to the limited and controlled media, China has always had a strong tradition in tapping “word of mouth” as a way to get the “real story”. Now due to the massive internet growth going on in China .. many of these conversations are taking place in explicit and therefore measurable forms.

Here are some numbers from Sam Flemming the co-founder of CICDATA, a company that specialises in measuring and tracking what the chinese consumer is saying. Here are some stats that Sam presented

103 million Internet Users
40 million Bulletin board (message boards users); (doubled in 6 months)
35.2 million go to Bulletin Board at least once a day
30 million go to Bulletin Board at least twice a day
5 million blogs

China is talking, and these numbers are expected to double by 2008. Lots of the discussion are questions about product or services or recommendations and if you have products or services in China, then you better have a strategy for tapping into these channels.

Here’s a couple of examples Sam presented.

G-fly .. I was born in 7th November of 1988. I am not a kid. I came here to share my photos with skaters, also hope to communicate with everyone about skateboarding. Also I am the leader of the skate-girl BBS in the SKATEHERE forum.

Anti-Japan sentiment runs high China and plays a factor in purchase decisions, but there is an incredible passion for cars such as the VW golf. The “Our-golf” club organised this photo by parking their cars into the word OURGOLF.com

What is the Chinese consumer saying about your brand? If you don’t know, talk to Sam Flemming and find out? Then you are in a position to create specific Word of Mouth marketing strategies?

Tags: WOM

What images do the words 9/11, Middle East, Oasis, or even “Word of Mouth” mean to you?

Grant Robinson has created a tool called Montage-a-google, which searches Google images and creates a mosaic of the results, which retain their links to the original source. This makes for an interesting viewing experience. Here’s what i got when i entered “Word of Mouth”

For more examples, here are the Flickr images tagged with Montageagoogle.

What I find interesting is the results you get when you type in some well known consumer brands such as Snickers. What does your brand look like?

Tags: WOM