WOMMA UK
The Word of Mouth Marketing Association UK
Having hosted the successful WOMMA UK Espresso with YouthNet earlier this month, we were thrilled to host a second Espresso at cubaka HQ on Tuesday.
Facebook’s Trevor Johnson, Head of Market Development (Emerging Markets) and Ankur Shah, CEO of Techlightenment, took to the stage to talk about the power of connections with a presentation that gave some fascinating insights into the directions social media marketing is taking.
Scores of brands have a well-established, beautifully designed Facebook presence, but gone are the days when the only other elements required to make a page ‘successful’ were some cool content and a smattering of community management. No – the key to effective Facebook marketing for brands, says Johnson, is not sharing content but getting people to amplify that content for you.
Getting a story amplified is much easier if you can establish who your most influential consumer is – one of the many insights that Techlightenment’s data-focused technology can achieve. Not only will the Facebook user enjoy more relevant, interesting content, but brands will be able to gain a wealth of information about their customers. Add in the targeting opportunities of the sponsored stories feature, and you get a huge opportunity for brands to reach consumers cost-effectively.
Ultimately, the new developments presented by Johnson and Shah are underpinned by a single, not-so-new premise: that social discovery is the most powerful driver of human behaviour in the world today. Whether you agree or not, it’s certainly plenty of food for thought.
If you’d like to read more, we’ll be updating this post with the slides presented very soon.
It's the biggest event in the word of mouth calendar: the annual WOMMA Summit in Las Vegas.
Last week saw hundreds of brands, agencies and researchers descend on Sin City for three days of keynotes, case studies, panels, awards and innumerable networking opportunities over a cocktail or four.
The WOMMA UK International Panel
I attended on behalf of WOMMA UK, moderating an international panel on Global WOM Perspectives alongside Steven van Belleghem from Insites Consulting (Europe), Fernando Anzures from Talk Word of Mouth (South America), Prof Tatsuro Sato from WOMJ (Japan) and Asit Gupta from Advocacy (China) .With an hour’s conversation around deploying international WOM campaigns including cultural differences and taboos; linguistic and logistical challenges; popularity and use of platforms; and industry trends, the debate barely scratched the surface – but it was a fantastic start.
This year's conference represented a real step forward for the industry, with much more conversation about offline WOM, innovative research and sustained relationship building, and less platform-centric stuff.
For details of the presentations and conversations you can read my round-up of the best content from the Summit on the 1000heads blog, and check out the full list of this year's WOMMY Award winners - best practice examples of global word of mouth campaigns.
However, as a single take-away, I'd like to offer the below video. Basic education on the meaning and value of WOM is still one of our toughest tasks, and this simple video will be a fantastic tool for us all to use with clients, colleagues and press alike.
Trying to break through to a young, stubborn and an ‘I know best’ generation to get them to think about the repercussions of drink and sex, is no mean feat. But, with the help of 1000heads, YouthNet did so not only effectively, but with some cheeky humour thrown in too.
At today’s WOMMA UK Espresso morning, Molly Flatt (1000heads) and Olly Drackford (Marketing Manager, YouthNet) showcased that by creating an offline experience that grabs peoples’ attention, you can spark a conversation so that continued WOM carries your campaign messaging for you.
Ollie (YouthNet) discussed WOM tactics with Alex and Molly from the WOMMA UK Council.
The campaign was strategically targeted to hit students where they are most comfortable, so where better than down the local boozer. Taking over the guest ale pumps, offering jokey beer mats and giving away free campaign-branded condoms, got tongues wagging not only in person, but across the internet in impactful social spaces.
The event, which was hosted at cubaka, prompted lots of debate and questions from the audience, particularly focused on measurement. One thing was for sure – YouthNet was hugely successful in stimulating debate amongst students on two subjects they probably love the most; booze and sex.
About to kick-off the YouthNet espresso briefing.
If you were unfortunate to have missed the event, or you want to see their results, you can check out the slide deck here:
Over the past few months we've been very busy consulting with the Advertising Association about the Bailey Review on child sexualisation and commercialisation in peer to peer marketing campaigns.
If you're one of our members, you may have participated in our survey on how you approach using young people for word of mouth campaigns. It's an important issue that has had a lot of attention in the press, and we're proud to have been part of a huge range of associations and brands shaping a response that is effective, realistic and actionable.
This week Mark Lund, Chair of the Advertising Association’s Children’s Panel, will present the new agreed guidelines to Prime Minister David Cameron. He says: “Bailey recognised that the commercial world has much to offer children and families, but that we need to ensure we observe sensible guidelines in the way we interact with them. These measures will help industry do just that.”
The new guidance reads:
“Young people under the age of 16 should not be employed and directly or indirectly paid or paid-in-kind to actively promote brands, products, goods, services, causes or ideas to their peers, associates or friends.”
We'll be adding it to our WOMMA UK Code of Ethics which all our members subscribe to.
But to make sure everyone understands what it means in practice, we're also planning a panel including some of the leading figures who have put the guideline together, so we can explore the ramifications and give all our members the chance to ask questions about how it will impact on them.
The date and time for the panel will be announced soon - in the meantime get in touch if you have any questions.
30 members of WOMMA UK gathererd at Leon Restauérant in Spitalfields to see the launch of the Medecins Sans Frontières interactive 3-D exhibition, 'MSF Delivers' highlighting the work that their midwives do in the Congo.
The presentation demonstrated how MSF utilise WOM in gaining visibility and engagement with a wide group which encompassed both medical and general public audiences - see below for a taste of their talk.
It proved to be an emotive, interesting and insightful presentation and we would like to thank Polly Markandya and Ben Holt for kicking off our autumn season with such a great event.
Enjoyed it yourself? Not a member but like the look of this? Our next Espresso is planned for Thursday 13th October. Details will follow shortly...
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