Thank you Andy Sernovitz

I'm just back from the WOMMA conference entitled 'How Brands and Agencies can Master the Art of Word of Mouth'.  The keynote speaker was Seth Godin of Unleashing the Idea Virus (and many more bestsellers). If you have not had the chance to see Seth speak, make sure you take the opportunity.  He was inspiring, down-to-earth, approachable and insightful.

Panelists from the agency arena included Jonathan Carson from BuzzMetrics, Dan Balter from BzzAgent, Mark Hughes author of Buzzmarketing.  And from the brand arena, Marc Sirkin (The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society), Jon Gabriel (Cold Stone Creamery), and Gaylene Nagel (Electronic Arts) presented extremely insightful case histories of word-of-mouth programs.

The case for wom has been made, very well, by this conference.  In the meantime, all of the folks referenced above have published material that is well worth a read.

Comments

[Allison Gower]

Sorry for the typo on Andy's last name. Fixed now. I came back from NYC with a cold and am on cold medicine which dulls my already challenged proof reading skills!

[Paul Williams - ceo - iKarma.com]

The case histories of spectacular WOM campaigns are always impressive. Small investment, big return. We love WOM and we love WOMMA. iKarma was a proud sponsor of the NY event and a WOMMA member that is excited about the WOM future we are all building. But I do want to make an (admittedly self serving) suggestion. If we want to interest the world in WOM, and generate real WOM about the WOMMA in the process, we need to show people more examples of how they themselves can use WOM in their own small businesses. An economy based on WOM is good for all consumers. With tools like the reputation system built into eBay, and new open systems like iKarma.com, WOM marketing is now a tool that can be used by even the smallest business. Tell a person about WOM and they will be amused. Show them how they can use WOM themselves and they might just tell a friend or two. For more info check out http://www.iKarma.com/tour.asp