Updates from August, 2010

• WOM Case Study: Kashi Makes Cereal Bars Talkable
  
  

  Pat McCarthy 10:25 am on August 30, 2010 | 2 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: WOMMYs (46)

  This campaign won a Gold WOMMY in the Introduction category for 2009.

  
  

  The cereal bar market is not only filled with a variety of products but also a lack of consumer-seen distinction. When Kashi wanted to introduce a new bar into the mix, they called on P&G Tremor to create a message that deviated from the standard bland and processed perception.

  
  Real Messaging for Real Fruit
  

  P&G Tremor used their community of over 400,000 moms to test new messages that broke with the accepted idea of cereal bars. This tactic relied on the psychology of WOM, where a message is spreadable when it breaks from the norm enough to be seen as new. In the end, two messages rose to the top:

  1. Kashi TLC cereal bars have real fruit you can see and taste, because it’s not covered up by artificial flavors or colors.
  2. Meet the bar that’s not afraid to bare it all. So proud of what’s inside, they wear it outside.
  3. They sent out creative packaging to their community that contained a free bar and coupons for the community member and their friends. The community was also driven to a site where they could take the “Bare Facts Quiz” to learn how Kashi’s bar was different.

  The Results:

  After 23 weeks, and independent data source (IRI) found…

  1. A 23% sales volume increase
  2. 400% increase in product trial among a representative population of women with children.
  3. An estimated 2.2 million conversations.
  4. In 8 weeks, 12,000 product reviews.

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  Do you have a case study that could rival this one? Submit it today at: http://womma.org/WOMMY/

  

  

   

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• Budgeting for Social Media
  
  

  Pat McCarthy 10:22 am on August 30, 2010 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: Brands and WOM (503), WOM and Social Networks (702)

  The persistent., nagging question, haunting many a brand: “How much should we spend on social media, in exact dollars?”

  John Bell, Managing Director at 360° Digital Influence (Ogilvy Public Relations), helps provide an answer to that nagging question, though he admits, “I find it hard to generalize while at the same time am driven to try and do just that. I want to establish some benchmarks based upon all of the brand work I have seen or touched in my job. Clearly what is right for a Unilever may be very different than what is right for a Siemens.”

  So, while Bell can’t provide a cure-all social investment answer, he does see industrywide consistencies involving ” a common trajectory of ’spend’ at least as applied to B2C and separately to B2B.”

  With that in Mind, Bell takes us through that course, touching upon:

  1. Experience in Social Media Tactics (Three Stages of Adoption)
  2. Social Media Business Mindset (Is SM an obligation, or a voluntary adoption?)
  3. Integration Path (What tools, what activities, what strategies?)
  4. …and finally…the Spend Matrix (OK, in the end, Bell does hypothesize a tad at how much it might cost)

  Read the full explanation of this trajectory and the rest of the interview at the Digital Influence Mapping Project

  

  

   

• Non-Profit Realities, Augmented
  
  

  Pat McCarthy 10:20 am on August 30, 2010 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: Augmented Reality (11), nonprofit, WOM Trends (738)

  The idea of augmenting reality, of increasing the “level of interaction between people and data,” is everywhere. In the cafe you sit at right now, four people have already checked in. In fact, if that fellow seems to be staring at you, he probably recognizes you from your profile picture. If that fixated gaze is not an augmented level of interaction resultant from data, I don’t know what is.

  In a recent Mashable/Tech piece, Geoff Livingston probes the unison between augmented reality for the non-profit sector. The article acknowledges that the wow factor of many augmented realities, the “cool, new shiny object” factor, only goes so far.

  Explains Christopher Barger, director of global social media at GM, “To me, the biggest challenge is simply finding a reason to do it beyond ‘we’re using augmented reality…. Whenever there’s a hot new technology or application, there’s a lot of pressure — much of it self-imposed — to just dive in or get in there, start using it so that you can say that you are and that you’re cutting edge.”

  With that in mind, Livingston dives into the current mashups of augmented reality and non-profits, the possible uses, and asks the question, “What non-profit uses of augmented reality do you foresee in the near future?”

  Read the full piece at Mashable

  

  

   

• WOM Case Study: Internet Provider Gives Away the Whole Internet
  
  

  Pat McCarthy 9:30 am on August 27, 2010 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: Creative WOM Ideas (256), WOMMYs (46)

  This campaign won a Bronze WOMMY in the Experiential category for 2009.

  In Belgium, the broadband internet is not cheap. The country’s largest internet supplier, Belgacom, wanted to beat the perception of expensive internet. After all, their slogan was “The Internet Belongs to Everybody.”

  The Owner of the Internet

  To promote their inexpensive “GO” internet package, they created a free online game. Users were allowed to own the internet by simply pressing a button. They remained “Owner of the Internet” until another user pressed the button. The “Owner of the Internet” enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame by being publicly seen by thousands via digital billboards at premier soccer games, on homepages of popular websites, on mobile digital billboards and more. Each user got 10 clicks per day. Whoever owned the internet the longest on any given day won a laptop.

  The Results:

  1. 100,000 Belgians visited the site in week one.

  2. 83,712 people participated in the contest.

  3. In total, there were 1,813,510 visits to the site generated by 224,680 unique visitors.

  4. 50% of visitors shared the site with friends, making it a viral hit.

  —————————-

  Do you have a case study that could rival this one? Submit it today at: http://womma.org/WOMMY/

  

  

   

• Meet the Chief Apology Officer
  
  

  Pat McCarthy 9:27 am on August 27, 2010 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: Brands and WOM (503), Creative WOM Ideas (256), Customer Care (57)

  Southwest Airlines has assembled a crack team of apologists to reach out to customers they disappointed. Their main task is following up after all sorts of crummy customer experiences like misplaced baggage, flight delays, and even stuff out of their control like bad weather.

  This is exactly the type of proactive customer care that builds brands. Everybody knows that mistakes will happen with any brand. Customers will inevitably be disappointed at some point. Southwest has decided to embrace this reality.

  Key Takeaway: Outstanding customer care leads to outstanding customer loyalty. Acknowledge your mistakes. Show the customer that the problem is fixed and they’ll remain your customer.

  Read more about the apology team at the Chicago Tribune

  

  

   

• Interview with Andy Sernovitz
  
  

  Pat McCarthy 9:25 am on August 27, 2010 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  

  Mike Stelzner, Executive Editor of the Social Media Examiner, recently did a great interview with one of the four WOMMA founders and 1st Executive Director, Andy Sernovitz. There was one really stellar takeaway that I wanted to share:

  Word of Mouth Marketing Steps

  Mike: What might be some of the word of mouth marketing steps at a very basic level?

  Andy: I like to talk about the five Ts. If you go to my blog, there’s a download where you can get all of these written up, which is the framework for any kind of word-of-mouth campaign.

  1. Finding the Talkers

  2. Giving Them a Topic

  3. Tools

  4. Taking Part

  5. Tracking

  Read the full explanation of these 5 steps and the rest of the interview at Social Media Examiner.

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  The other founders of WOMMA are Dave Balter, Jonathan Carson & Pete Blackshaw. Read how WOMMA went from an idea to a movement here.

  

  

   

• WOMMA Members Get Webinars
  
  

  Pat McCarthy 9:00 am on August 27, 2010 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: Member Benefits (71)

  WOMMA membership provides a plethora of benefits essential to keeping on the cutting edge. WOMMA’s Webinar Series provides weekly content presented by the greatest innovators, execs and entrepreneurs in word of mouth marketing. These webinars are free for all employees of WOMMA member companies. The average member company saves $1,440 in webinar registration fees just by being a WOMMA member.

  …And if you are a member with great webinar content, email Pat@WOMMA.org to talk about how WOMMA can help you produce and promote it.

  Time to renew you membership?

  Call Tarah Remington Brown at 312-853-4400 for more information.

  Got questions about becoming a member?

  Email Jason Dent  at JasonDent@WOMMA.org

  

  

   

• Members in the Spotlight
  
  

  Pat McCarthy 8:09 am on August 27, 2010 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: Member News (143)

  WOMMA is Proud to Welcome our Newest Members:

  Ronald McDonald House

  Leo Burnett

  Six Apart

  House Party has partnered with Shindigz.com, a party supply website, to help their hosts buy party supplies.

  CarMax, Inc. (NYSE: KMX), the nation’s largest retailer of used cars, has begun construction on a new CarMax superstore in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  The new store will be the first CarMax location in the state of Louisiana. More Here.

  Janrain, Inc., (http://www.janrain.com) provider of the leading user management platform for the social web, today announced the release of Janrain Capture, a cloud-based user management solution. Built on top of Janrain’s User Management Platform, JUMP, which enables online businesses to manage all aspects of user engagement and measurement, Capture ensures user profile data is actionable by making it available to websites when and how they need it. Capture has already been deployed by the National Geographic Channel, Yellow Pages Group, and Eastman Kodak. More here.

  Zócalo Group hired Jennifer Severns as creative director of its Zócalo Studios division, effective at the beginning of August.

  Reporting to partner Patrick Rooney, who leads the division, Severns will work to develop content, interactive, and consumer experiences for Zócalo clients. She will lead a team of five internal staffers, as well as oversee partners and freelancers. More Here.

  The Regus ‘Show Us Your Office’ Contest

  Are you in need of a new office? Affect Strategies’ client Regus, the leader in flexible workplace solutions, has launched the ‘Show Us Your Office’ contest in which you can enter to win a year of fully furnished office space at any one of Regus’ U.S. locations! You can enter by visiting http://bit.ly/showusyouroffice and uploading a photo or video of your less-than-ideal office. The entries with the most votes will move on and become finalists. They’ve already received some hilarious entries - check them out!

  Brains on Fire is publishing their book on Monday. More Here: http://brainsonfirebook.com/

  Bazaarvoice, the market and technology leader in hosted social commerce applications that drive sales, today announced that well-known investor and financial executive Tom Meredith has joined the Bazaarvoice Board of Directors.

  Sears Holdings Corp. hired Razorfish executive David Friedman to take the retailer’s top marketing post, replacing Richard Gerstein, who resigned in May.

  More Here

  

  

   

• 
  
  

  Pat McCarthy 9:37 am on August 25, 2010 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  

  Harness the power of mobile marketing technology to improve the performance of traditional marketing channels.  ConnectMedia Ventures is a mobile marketing agency that provides a technology platform that connects traditional media (print, OOH, broadcast) with interactive content (video, images, promotions) on mobile phones via mobile web applications. We provide flexible mobile solutions that increase the effectiveness of traditional media, propel consumer relationships and increase the ROI of traditional media campaigns.

  The ConnectMedia platform leverages shortcodes/text messaging, 2D barcodes and image recognition technology to deliver unique mobile web applications to consumer’s mobile devices.  We’re not just a mobile app company; our mobile web application platform is accessible by all web-enabled devices in the marketplace which provides for unparalleled scale.

  The team at ConnectMedia Ventures strives to design unique and compelling mobile strategies for every client.  Contact us today to learn how you can leverage the mobile channel to drive your business.  Sign-up for our e-newsletter too!

  Contact us today: (773) 327-3188

  ————————-

  This is a sponsored post.

  

  

   

• WOM Case Study: Ringling Bros. Get Talkable
  
  

  Pat McCarthy 9:35 am on August 25, 2010 | 1 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: Brand Advocates (8), Influencers (60), Offline WOM (60), WOMMYs (46)

  This campaign won a Silver WOMMY in the Experiential category for 2009.

  Feld Entertainment, parent company of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and Disney on Ice, needed to increase attendance at their events. Their agency, Mom Central Consulting, recommended a brand-ambassador program.

  Moms go to the Circus

  When it comes to entertaining the family, moms generally control the budget. The campaign strategy focused on 22 markets, in each groups of around 25 mom-influencers were empowered to share show info. With their families, these moms saw previews of Feld Entertainment shows. In addition, Feld Entertainment began using social media and community management. Mom Central also reached out to 142 mom bloggers to attend Feld Entertainment shows.

  The Results:

  1. Prelaunch sales predictions were shattered in the first 9 markets, selling over 25,000 tickets.

  2. 70% of the sales were from new customers.

  3. Online positive sentiment rose from 8% to 63%.

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  Do you have a case study that could rival this one? Submit it today at: http://womma.org/WOMMY/