Today, BrandSmart 2010 kicks off in Chicago, hosted by the American Marketing Association. Considered a leading event for branding thought leadership, attendees will learn best practices around effective brand management and engagement. Among speakers at the conference is Zócalo Group's very own, Dave Kissel, who will be presenting on the topic of "Word of Mouth Marketing: The Most Powerful Form of Influence is Now the Newest Way to Build Brands."



For a full conference schedule and updates on the event, check out the BrandSmart blog and website.

For a more personal discussion around brand building, be sure to check out Dave Kissel alongside marketing recruiters, Geri Kleeman and Marilyn Vojta, as they discuss how to effectively manage your time and communicate your personal brand. In the article, they offer insight into building a strong brand and the 10 components necessary  to get you there. Check out the article, "Personal Branding and Today's Job Market", to find out what they are!





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PR, social media and marketing enthusiasts get ready as the much anticipated 2010 Hispanic PR & Social Media Marketing Conference kicks off today in Dallas, TX.  Hosted by the HispanicPR Blog,  the conference runs May 10th - 12th and will feature some of the industry's leading voices and hottest trends in Hispanic communication.

You too can join the conversation by visiting the Conference's website or Tweeting #HPRConf and visiting the newly designed @hispanicpr Twitter page. Share your best insights and comments related to the Conference and its speakers with colleagues, friends and followers!

For all you social butterflies looking to mingle with fellow Tweeters and Conference attendees post-presentation, check out the official Tuesday Tweetup (@HPR_Conf), held in the Draft Media Sports Lounge at 5pm and hosted by The Sanchez Ricardo Agency.

With the U.S. Hispanic market growing faster than ever, marketers and brands alike have been working to wrap their heads around how to best target and engage this audience. Featuring more than  24 professional development sessions, and more than 70 speakers and presenters, this year's Hispanic PR & Social Media Marketing Conference provides an invaluable resource for gaining insight and best practices into reaching this segment.

Attendees and supporters are already buzzing about this year's line-up of topics including a focus on:

•    Engaging Hispanic Audiences Through Media Relations
•    Targeting PR Initiatives to Reach Urban Latino Youth
•    Developing Partnerships with Hispanic Organizations, and
•    Leveraging Social Media in PR & Advertising Campaigns

Presenters hail from some of today's leading agencies and brands including:

•    General Mills
•    UnitedHealthcare
•    McDonald's
•    Verizon Wireless
•    Microsoft
•    Walmart
•    State Farm
•    Qwest
•    Zune
•    Southwest Airlines
•    The US Army
•    NBA
•    The American Heart Association
•    The National Pork Board
•    and more!

For a complete Hispanic Conference agenda, please check out the official Conference website, or tune into @HispanicPR for up-to-the-minute details on speakers and events!



As the Official Twitter and Word of Mouth Sponsor of this year's Hispanic PR & Social Media Marketing Conference, Zócalo Group will also be on-site during the event. You can find us by tweeting @jansell or @paulmrand as well as stopping by the Tuesday Tweetup for in -person introductions.

Zócalo Group President/CEO and the President of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), Paul Rand, will also be featured as a presenter in panel discussions around the impact and influence of social media and word of mouth marketing. Check out his upcoming sessions here:

• Tuesday, May 11th - 1:30pm
  "A Review of Key Issues and Trends Every Marketer Needs to Know About Hispanic Social Media"
  
  
• Wednesday, May 12th - 10am
  "PR vs. Advertising: A Frank Discussion About Which Discipline is Best Suited to Lead Hispanic Social Media Initiatives and Why"

The Hispanic PR & Social Media Conference is the national trade show division of the HispanicPR Blog, the leading trade media outlet focused on Hispanic PR and social marketing news and views. Share your questions and Conference favorites with us here!




(Post co-authored by Leah Bassett)


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Examples of Word of Mouth can be found in the most unlikely places.

Recently, I found myself watching the William Castle inspired documentary, Spine Tingler, a film that documents Castle's intriguing film making throughout the 1950's and 1960's. 

What I find striking about this documentary is how Castle is discussed. Most documentaries speak about the filmmaker's influences, his directorial style, and/or his themes; however, when many of his colleagues and other industry eminents spoke of this esteemed film maker in interviews, they often described William Castle as a "brand", and that for all of his talents as a filmmaker, his strongest asset was that he was a great "marketer." Granted, his reputation was that he was "King of the Gimmick"...but in many ways, William Castle is one of the unsung heroes of word-of-mouth marketing.

In short, William Castle would drive positive customer word-of-mouth about his movies through creative strategies, fostering a pop-culture brand which exists to this day - all of this within the context of the 1950-era media industry.

Castle's strategies for driving customer word of mouth include:

• Creating unique "brand" experiences for audience members directly within his films.  Even now, he is known for his unique stunts, such as having a skeleton "emerge" from a movie and float through the audience (House on Haunted Hill); having a "punishment poll" to determine the end of a movie (Mr. Sardonicus); and most famously, having theater seats "buzz" a person in order to encourage them to scream, as if they were participating in the film itself (The Tingler).
  
  Moviegoers - then and now - recognized the director's willingness to create unique experiences for his audience. In short, his "stunts" were the 1950's equivalent of offline WOM campaigns.
  
  
• Developing a distinct personal brand.  Castle would often appear in his movies to provide an introduction (and, of course, to explain the "stunt"). By doing so, he not only helped promote the film, he successfully created a personal brand that came to rival that of fellow filmmaker, Alfred Hitchcock. By closely identifying himself with his movies, Castle created offline buzz strictly due to the force of his personality.
  
  However, this same technique later backfired when he tried to produce the film version of Rosemary's Baby in the late 1960's. Hollywood saw him as strictly as a "B-movie" director, causing considerable negative word of mouth in the industry, ultimately preventing him from taking the role.
  
  
• Encouraging and driving conversation around key influencers and customers.  Castle would often travel to towns where his films were shot, meeting audience members (primarily 8 to 14 year old's) and interacting with them through special events. Today, we might call this "viral marketing." 
  
  In addition, Castle developed strong relationships with key influencers within Hollywood, including Harry Cohn, then head of Columbia Studios. In fact, Castle's ability to engage influencers led to his films becoming financially profitable, as well as driving sustainable word of mouth with later influencers like Forrest J. Ackerman, collector Bob Burns, and most notably, John Waters, who wrote a tribute to Castle in the early 1980s.

So, in the spirit of William Castle's pre-WOM efforts, I turn to you, dear reader, and ask - are there any unsung pioneers of WOM? Any one in any context - popular culture, history, technology, business - who embraced word-of-mouth principles long before anyone else? Someone you feel is a true pioneer of WOM?





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