On Monday I moderated a webinar panel entitled, Ethics and Endorsements: What is Adequate Disclosure?, focusing on best practices for transparency and disclosure for online engagement. Sponsored by the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), the event included the following panelists:
John Bell, WOMMA President and Managing Director at 360° Digital Influence
Jory Des Jardin, Co-Founder and President, Strategic Alliances at BlogHer
Sean Corcoran, Interactive Marketing Analyst at Forrester Research
Tom Collinger, Chair of Integrated Marketing Comms. at the Medill School, Northwestern
Anthony DiResta, WOMMA's general counsel; partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP.
The issue of disclosure has received attention recently due to the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) plan to release updated guidelines for the use of paid endorsements and testimonials in advertising and marketing. Due out later this Fall, these changes will have a great impact on how marketers and consumers interact online.
Lots of good information was shared during the panel discussion and overall, a great degree of consistently was found in terms of best practices and approach. In summary, there was easy agreement on the need for and the benefit of consistent disclosure on review blogs; however, discrepancy and differences existed in terms of best practices in disclosure when it came to disclosing on commentary blogs as well as social networking sites, photo-video sharing sites, and Twitter.
Lots of debate and discussion will continue to happen around this issue, so please weigh in your thoughts on either Zócalo Group's blog or WOMMA's Living Ethics blog, with final discussion occurring at the WOMMA Summit coming up in November.
John Bell, WOMMA President and Managing Director at 360° Digital Influence
Jory Des Jardin, Co-Founder and President, Strategic Alliances at BlogHer
Sean Corcoran, Interactive Marketing Analyst at Forrester Research
Tom Collinger, Chair of Integrated Marketing Comms. at the Medill School, Northwestern
Anthony DiResta, WOMMA's general counsel; partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP.
The issue of disclosure has received attention recently due to the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) plan to release updated guidelines for the use of paid endorsements and testimonials in advertising and marketing. Due out later this Fall, these changes will have a great impact on how marketers and consumers interact online.
Lots of good information was shared during the panel discussion and overall, a great degree of consistently was found in terms of best practices and approach. In summary, there was easy agreement on the need for and the benefit of consistent disclosure on review blogs; however, discrepancy and differences existed in terms of best practices in disclosure when it came to disclosing on commentary blogs as well as social networking sites, photo-video sharing sites, and Twitter.
Lots of debate and discussion will continue to happen around this issue, so please weigh in your thoughts on either Zócalo Group's blog or WOMMA's Living Ethics blog, with final discussion occurring at the WOMMA Summit coming up in November.
