By Drew Elovitz, Social Media Associate - Lifestyle/Consumer Division, Attention

You may recall the epic reunion between Barbie and Ken last February – I know I do. I saw the campaign everywhere, from billboards and blogs to Magnolia Bakery, and I was impressed.

At the time I was a graduate student, studying media and popular culture, and looking for a way to translate my interests (and life long Barbie fandom) into a job. With this in mind, I wanted to find out more about this highly visible and exciting campaign. Some Internet sleuthing led me to the blog of an Attention employee who had posted about Barbie and Ken’s roman-tech courtship.  A few email exchanges later, and I found myself in the Attention offices interviewing for an internship.

After interning for a few months while finishing up my thesis, I graduated and transitioned into a full-time role in the consumer and lifestyle division. I currently work with an array of Mattel products in the social sphere – and I think it’s pretty doll-tastic.

It sounds simple, doesn’t it?  Truth be told, most internships do not translate into job offers, but here are some tips I learned from my experience.

• It’s called social networking for a reason! If you’re interested in a company or passionate about a brand, reach out via social channels and make connections. You never know who might be willing to pass your resume along to HR.
• Apply now and start early. Even if you can only commit to a few days a week until school’s out, get your foot in the door before the onslaught of summer internship applications.
• Think small. The projects I worked on at Attention as an intern were much more interesting than my responsibilities as an intern at larger companies. Smaller agencies provide more hands-on opportunities and want to acquire talented employees. Your dedication and hard work won’t go unnoticed.
• Speak up. Let your supervisors know that you are excited to be there! Ask them to lunch, pick their brains, and let people know that you would love to work at the company full time. Worst-case scenario, you’ll make a few friends, get some great references, and expand your network.

So, do you have a knack for social media? Are you a pro tweeter, blogger, or share my passion for Barbie? Attention is always on the look out for great interns for our beauty, media, fashion, business, consumer, and lifestyle practices.  Feel free to reach out via email or apply via our jobs page.

You can contact Drew on twitter — @drewblahblah

Originally posted on Attention’s blog

Dr. Hamada, President of WOM Japan

About WOM Japan

WOM Japan is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing and advocating the discipline of credible word of mouth marketing in Japan.

Over 40 companies and about 30 researchers and individuals are involved in this organization.

WOM Japan was first founded for organizing study sessions and reception parties for bloggers and journalists and later became non-profit organization in July of 2009.

Currently, WOM Japan mainly focuses on analyzing of the effectiveness of domestic and global case studies and the creation of a social media disclosure guide.

Also, WOM Japan annually hosts Word of Mouth Marketing Summit in order to advance and advocate the discipline of word of mouth marketing in Japan.

———-

Interview with Dr. Hamada, President of WOM Japan

How would you compare US brands and Japanese brands and their use word of mouth marketing and social media?

I have not paid particular attention to the difference between Japanese and US brands.

Since every brand that is competing in the Japanese market would use Japanese for word of mouth marketing, I believe this is a trend that is assimilating into the local business culture.

Which word of mouth marketing practices and tools do you see the most activity and interest from Japanese brands?

I think the Highball Campaign by Suntory, one of the top whisky makers in Japan, is one of the first successful example of word of mouth marketing.

Through careful coordination of mass media and social media, the Highball cocktail, which was previously unknown, came to be served and enjoyed in most restaurants in Japan.

A popular technique is to form a base of supporters through blogging relationships, improve consumer recognition through TV ads, attract users to product websites through search engine advertisements, and achieve large scale viral marketing through YouTube and blogging. There is also a common word of mouth trend to attract customers to visit a B&M store location through listing the store location on the official website and advertising the B&M experience through word of mouth social media such as Twitter.

In one year’s time, how do you see word of mouth marketing strategy changing in Japan?

As a result of the massive earthquake which took place in March, the general welfare of the mass media industry, including TV and news publications, has been in decline. On the other hand, social media has been enjoying an increase in users. In the case of Facebook, which has been one of the largest beneficiaries in this trend, the user population in Japan has increased 5.6 fold since last August.

As a result, many companies in Japan have become increasingly interested in word of mouth marketing. However, word of mouth marketing is a trend that has only started to be recognized in Japan, and local companies are still in the stage of testing the technique.

I personally think that marketing strategies that integrate word of mouth marketing and social media will become increasingly employed.

What are WOM Japan’s plans, as a trade association, to advance the word of mouth marketing industry in Japan during the coming years?

By introducing methods and case studies in Japan, we want to share both the positive and negative sides of word of mouth marketing. By establishing a guidelines and identifying issues, we want to contribute to the development of word of mouth marketing.

word of mouth marketing has been gathering attention from not only those who are well-versed in social media, but also from the conventional marketing-centric world, which has had less interaction with social media. I think this phenomenon is proof that spreading information out to society via social media is becoming increasingly important.

What advancements are occurring in Japan that are not yet occurring in the States?

In Japan, a mobile phone internet service called “i-mode” became popular from 1999, and a diverse mobile marketing industry has developed from this invention.

In these past years, iPhone and Android users have been increasing and many companies are taking the mobile phone marketing knowledge that they have gained through i-mode and integrating this knowledge with these new platforms.

There is also a flourishing domestic social media and location-based online services industry in Japan, and usage of these services are on the rise. These services include niconico doga (niconico video), mixi, and Locatouch.

By Rod Brooks, CMO of PEMCO and WOMMA President

Another Quarter In The Books

Wow! Where does the time go so quickly? It seems as though it was only last month that I was writing a recap of my first quarter as President of the WOMMA Board of Directors. Now it is the twelfth of July and we are already a week into Q3. It’s been a busy and productive time for WOMMA and I’ll try to bring you up to speed with a selection of key advances and accomplishments that have been made by our maturing association.

It’s been a real pleasure to lead and work with such a passionate group of volunteers that make up the WOMMA board. You’ll be pleased to know that the membership is well represented by an outstanding mix of global, national, and regional brands and agencies that truly have the best interest of WOMMA at heart. Add to that a staff that is led by Executive Director Kristen Smith, who in her third year at the helm has found ways to grow membership and revenue while delivering continuously improving educational events, partnerships, and programs. I’d like to offer the board, Kristen, and the entire WOMMA staff my sincere thanks and appreciation for another outstanding quarter of productivity and accomplishments. Let’s look at a few:

As great word of mouth practitioners know, it all starts with effectively listening.

School of WOM: After making a conscientious effort to examine the feedback from attendees of prior years and carefully reviewing submitted surveys, a President’s “Innovation Task Force” was assembled to explore opportunities to better differentiate our two major events – The School of WOM and The WOMMA Summit.

Several great ideas were brought forward, a few of which were implemented in Chicago at the School of WOM.

• Several sessions were converted to 90-minute workshops that allowed for both presenting valuable information as well as working through examples in a practical hands-on format.
• A speed-networking session was piloted at the end of the first day of presentations. Those who participated were able to seek out and spend valuable one-to-one time with specific companies and individuals that they were looking for suggestions and advice from.
• And speaking of networking, WOMMA was able to use POKEN technology to help make sharing contact information both easy and fun, while encouraging attendees to say hello in a friendly face-to-face way. The clever device was sponsored by Nology Media and was a big hit, generating over 3000 contact “pokes” by over 83 % of the 300 registered attendees.

WOM-COMM: With a full year of producing this program and listening to participant feedback under our belt, we have grown to understand that members who enrolled were more advanced than the 101 levels of content that we were providing. You asked for richer and deeper content, quizzes that were more aligned with the material being presented, case studies that were directly tied back to the course work, and less overlap within the first three modules. As a result, we reworked our lineup of presenters and coached them on the importance of differentiating the content between each module so that there is a building progression of learning. The quiz, which is mandatory, is written by WOMMA staff and is more aligned with the presenter’s key takeaways. The newly reformatted WOM- COMM online certificate program has just graduated its first class of students and we are eagerly awaiting their feedback.

President’s Innovation Task Force: A group of thought leaders from among our membership has been brought together on a quarterly basis to provide feedback and guidance to me as President as well as to our WOMMA staff. During Q2 a subgroup of the task force volunteered to develop a set of tools that would better enable current WOMMA members to act as advocates for the association. This work is currently underway and will be rolled out in the coming months.

Bringing our message to the market where they live and work.

Talkable Brand Exchanges: I’m very excited that we are now taking the WOMMA message and deliverables into regional outreach and educational events. The pilot program for these Talkable Brand Exchanges is intended to bring brands and agencies together who might not otherwise attend one of our national events. In addition to the February event, held in San Francisco, there are three events being planned for Chicago, Seattle and New York City. Check our member website for details on the event in your area.

Wine Wednesdays: WOMMA has schedule four Wine Wednesdays that will take place this summer in Atlanta, New York, Denver and Washington DC, with tentative dates for Chicago and San Diego. Wine Wednesdays are great opportunities for member companies to showcase their WOMMA pride by hosting a networking event in their city. To schedule your Wine Wednesday go here.

Adding value to our members and recognizing their accomplishments.

Customer Care Guidebook: Hot off the press in Q2! The Research & Measurement Council recently produced Best Practices Guide: WOM in the Customer Contact Centerfocused on understanding social media and customer service with six brands sharing their case studies. As a member only benefit, members can access the Guidebook in its entirety, by going here.

WOMMY Awards: The WOMMY’s are in their third year and continue to grow momentum and relevance in our industry. As the only awards focused on WOMM and Social Engagement we’ve gained credibility and international recognition. The WOMMY Chairs have added three new categories to the awards submission: Mobile, Cause Related Marketing, and Customer Relationship Management. These were added due to WOMMA’s recognition that these are growing areas of relevance and importance to our membership. It’s not too soon to plan your entry for this year’s WOMMY Awards.

That’s just a few examples of the work that your WOMMA board and staff have been doing on your behalf. It’s a great organization and one that is gaining momentum on a weekly basis. I urge you to talk WOMMA up in your organization and among industry colleagues. It’s in all of our best interest to include the thought leaders and practitioners that will help us grow the quality of our association.

I continue to be very excited about the opportunities that are developing in the online and offline space for word of mouth marketers. I hope you will join me by enthusiastically supporting and attending our upcoming events. As you know, your referral and recommendation is more highly regarded than anything WOMMA can say or do on our own behalf.

Have a wonderful summer.

Best regards,

Rod

Recently I spoke with Jay Ehret, small business marketing pro with The Marketing Spot about how everything Word of Mouth has become online Social Media-centric. That was the starting point of our discussion. We covered lots of other territory. Paul Williams from the Idea Sandbox added in another perspective on the podcast.

One question Jay asked me was:
Is WOM diminished as a marketing discipline?

My reply:
“Absolutely not. A word of mouth recommendation from a friend or an acquaintance is and will always be trusted more than traditional advertising. Friends trust what friends say more than people trust what companies say. That isn’t going to change.

As a marketing discipline, WOM is now more important than ever because we have so many ways to connect with people besides a phone call or a face-to-face visit. Being able to have a conversation with someone using computers and smart phones increases the opportunity for WOM to happen.

>>> Have a listen to the podcast <<<.

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Key quotes from the podcast include:
“In the past, we just felt word of mouth would happen serendipitously…We’ve now learned through The Tipping Point…more people are trying to think about getting people to talk, not serendipitously, but strategically.” | John Moore

“The key of it is, people passing the word about you. …It just boils down to ‘what does it mean to be remarkable?’ So remarkable, that people remark.” | Paul Williams

“My advice is to be 100% confident in how you deliver a customer experience before you start to try to strike up conversations online. Because if you are not confident, you will not want to listen to some of the negative feedback online about how you are doing business.” | John Moore

“Word of mouth, to do it properly, it’s not just a department head; it’s not just one person. It’s the way you run a company.” | Paul Williams

“It doesn’t matter how many fans you have online. But we get caught up in that as a measurement of success, and frankly the real measure of success is; is a company making money. Are they turning conversations into transactions?” | John Moore

“I sort of see word of mouth as how do companies, and businesses and people give a script to the people who might talk about you. That way you can guide the discussion. So, ‘how can I give you bullet points to talk about my brand?’” | Paul Williams

When you return from a conference chock-full of insights, it’s difficult to share everything you learned. Sure, you can transcribe your notes but your notes are bound to have some holes. You can also pull insights from summaries other attendees have posted on their blogs.

Or … you whittle through the thousands of tweets from attendees to carve out a more complete list of insights. That’s the path I’ve chosen to take after returning from WOMMA’s Creating Talkable Brands conference.

Over 470 attendees shared 3,600+ tweets (.pdf download) with the #WOMMA hashtag during the three-day conference. I’ve whittled down the 3,600+ tweets to a more digestible collection of 165 tweets and compiled them into this SlideShare presentation. Enjoy.

NOTE: I’ll also be sharing video snippets and more in-depth summaries after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Did you see this? PQ Media has released its second Word of Mouth Marketing Forecast Report. The report offers a deep dive into the size, scope, and growth of the Word of Mouth Marketing industry.

It’s a hefty read at 115 pages. But the information is worth digging into for marketers at both brands and agencies.

WOM spend is on the rise, even in today’s recessionary times. In this report you’ll find out where money being spent, why it is being spent, and how companies are benefitting from their strategic WOM spend.

WOMMA members get this report free. (Membership perk.) Others must pay.

However, I’ve compiled a few highlights from the report into this short video. (Hopefully this video will whet your marketing appetite to learn more from reading the full report.)

Yep, I’m putting my marketing where my mouth is as WOMMA’s in-house evangelist for all things word-of-mouth (WOM).

In this role, I will help WOMMA better communicate with its members and non-members to promote the discipline of Word-of-Mouth Marketing. I’ll also serve as a WOMMA spokesperson addressing hot-button topics covered by traditional media and discussed in conversations happening in the online social media world.  Plus, I’ll be sharing thoughts here … on the ALL THINGS WOM blog.

Those who know me, know I’ve long believed in the power of WOM to increase business sales and brand salience.  Can’t help being a believer. I’ve spent a good part of my marketing career working for two brands that baked word-of-mouth marketing principles into how it does business every day. Starbucks Coffee and Whole Foods Market both became endearing and enduring brands because they each delivered products, services, and experiences customers wanted to enthusiastically share with others.

That’s WOM in action … when people so adore something a company does that they share stories with friends/family in the offline world and with followers/fans in the online world. 

Today, companies like Zappos, Method, Apple, Lego, Fiskars, and Rackspace are all proudly flying the WOM flag high and finding success through tapping into the influential power of customers.

As a marketingologist with my Brand Autopsy consulting business, I show companies how to use basic WOM principles to turn indifferent customers into evangelical customers. When I began my practice in early 2005, one of the first steps I took was to join the just-started Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA). And if you attended the first WOMMA Conference in March 2005, you probably saw me.  (I was the dude in the white smock.)

So it feels natural for me to work directly with WOMMA as their “WOM Enthusiast.”  

You’ll be hearing more from me, especially on this blog.  Together, we’ll explore the arts and sciences of WOM that sales (and fails), wrestle with ethics issues, and showcase smart analysis from bloggers about all things WOM.

 Thanks for joining me. This’ll be fun.