Ahh..  the Super Bowl - the night when we all eat too many carbs, too much taco dip and either watch the game with genuine interest or simply state," I'm watching it for the commercials." 

It's also the night when marketers sit with bated breath to see how months of hard work will be received by the public at large. We review, critique and measure the reaction of those expensive 30-second spots.

I'm not here to argue the creativity of any one commercial, or the brands and agencies that produced them. Some were great; others... not so much. Personal opinions are just that - personal. AdFreak has some interesting ideas on 15 things you can purchase instead of a Super Bowl commercial for $2.6 million (4 games with Favre as QB? Really?).  And here's an oft-debated question: is the Super Bowl spot worth it to the people not playing in it?

As word of mouth marketing grows and with 92% of folks trusting their friends and family for recommendations over anything else, the core question to ask yourself before putting your 30-seconds out there is: would anyone recommend my brand after seeing this?  Sure, I laughed at the sight of Betty White being tackled to the ground, but it doesn't make me want to go out and buy a Snickers.

 

 

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This morning I came across this manifesto from Sarah Dopp, author of "Dopp Juice" - The Suck-Free Internet Manifesto.  I agreed with the whole thing, but a few parts stuck out for me:

I believe that all web-based interactions operate on the same principles as in-person interactions....

I believe in social capital. I believe that if you have something to sell or promote, your existing relationship to a community determines your ability to get what you want when you ask for favors or put things in front of people. I believe that if you want your community to support you, you need to first support your community.

I believe you cannot escape the practical importance of personal ethics by doing business on the Internet, even if you attempt to be anonymous.

Since I would love to speak like the British, my first thought was "Spot on!"
 
Here at Zócalo Group, we believe in establishing relationships with our online environment - bloggers, community moderators and the like.  You don't just send out a bunch of emails and expect people to get all excited about a brand; you have to first show how what you're sending can help or support the blogger, whether that's a content idea, a new reader, or something that their readers might find cool.

You can't just treat a blogger like another marketing tool - they're people, someone who's taking the time out to write about something that interests them.  And you must do this ethically and with transparency and require them to do so as well.
 
And then...  things suck less.



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When I had the pleasure of working with Andy Sernovitz for a couple of years, one of the things I remember most often hearing from him was along the lines of, word of mouth is the oldest form of marketing - this, to me, makes total sense.  

Here's why: in the WOM industry, many of us have heard the stat that 92% of people say that their purchasing decisions have been influenced by the recommendation of a friend or family member.  Even before the advent of TV, the internet and social media, people talked to each other...a lot.  And *gasp* in person.  Whether it was about the weather, their families or how to prepare dinner, recommendations were involved.  I'd take a guess that brand conversation has steadily increased since then, but recommendations have always existed.  So, how does Sally Hansen fit into this discussion of word of mouth?

Sally Hansen is a cosmetics company that is especially known for its nail polishes, nail tools and the like.  I'm not sure if she's fictional or not - perhaps she's friends with Victoria of Victoria's Secret.  I recently discovered a revolutionary nail polish that applied in one coat.  Other women will agree with me that this is a rare find.  I was so enthused about my pedicure that I turned around in my cube the next day and randomly told my colleague about the polish and my experience with it.  I thought a teensy part of her pedicure experience could be improved by my discovery, so I shared.

And it dawned on us - we were actively sharing brand recommendations through word of mouth.  We were bringing to life a component of today's strategic marketing plans, one that gets so much air time that we often forget what the term actually means.  While there are a lot of fancy (and useful) tools to implement, the most important aspect of creating successful word of mouth marketing programs is to have a good story to tell and products that people want to talk about. 

My advice: Don't get so lost in the tactics that you forget the most integral part of word of mouth - people.



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