4. Online word of mouth, ‘Consumer Generated Media’,
digital communities, social networking …
• What is it?
• How important is it for my brand?
• How does it work?
• What should I be doing about it?
5. Overall Power scores allow comparison across all connection
points. TV ads have historically been most powerful for cars
overall. Mainstream Cars
TV ads 61 43
Seeing the brand around 71 24
Knowing someone who used brand 61 20
Talking to a friend 33 19
Newspaper or magazine reviews/ articles 38 5
Talking to my spouse or partner 22 21
Newspaper ads 16 21
Talking to someone else 25 12
Visiting the manufacturers website 19 14
Driving but not buying the brand 27 5
Other websites about cars 20 9
Buying and driving the brand 27 2
Buying but not driving the brand 11 15
Seeing the brands sales brochure 15 10 Activation Power
Talking to a work colleague 17 7 Demand Power
Noticing how much the brand costs 19 6
Seeing brand in TV programmes 17 6
Visiting dealership with a sales enquiry 17 5
Poster or billboard ads 7 14
Visiting dealer’s website 15 5
Talking to a salesperson 10 9
Leaflets in newspapers or magazines 12 7
Good deals or discounts 11 7
A TV programme sponsorship 9 7
Internet ads 8 7
Magazine ads 8 6
Receiving a letter from the brand 8 4
Seeing brand at a car exhibition 10 2
Sports team or event sponsorship 8 3
9. Online word of mouth is a small part of the contact
people have with brands when researching online
Online total
Online informal
Car insurance 10 87
Digital cameras 17 75
Holiday destination 16 72
Mobile phones 13 64
Films 11 54
Cars 5 38
Household cleaning 3 19
Cold and flu remedies 5 13
10. Online word of mouth is tiny relative to offline word of
mouth
11. But which are the most influential sources?
% of uses of each source leading to a …
Positive brand Recommendation
Recommendation against a brand
Personal
contacts
Online word of
mouth
Independent
press/reviews
Company led
12. But which are the most influential sources?
Based on positive brand recommendations
Very relevant Very convincing
Personal
contacts
Online word of
mouth
Independent
press/reviews
Company led
13. Online is more versatile, but offline is more powerful
Online Offline
14. The potential for word of mouth is governed by the extent to which
people talk, and the scarcity of transmitters within the category
15. Key steps to manage the risk and maximise the
opportunity
16.
17. Continually monitor online conversations
• Example of Thematic extraction: The thicker the line, the greater the
significance. Click-through is available from the graphic and the headlines.
18. Brand Comment Diagnostics
• Example of analysis on Apple iPod and tonality from online news sources. Click-
through is available from each data point on the graphic.
24. ‘Word of mouth’ can be delivered via a
number of different media
25. Tracking data can show us which brands get
more than their ‘fair share’ of positive
consumer comment
26. Brands need to actively stimulate advocacy
to tap into goodwill
27. How important is online word of mouth?
• Potentially very important
• When problems emerge, they do so extremely quickly
• As one of many influences on brand perceptions
• Currently, relatively unimportant compared to offline
word of mouth
• Consumer generated content is only a small part of the
contact people have with brands online
28. What should I do about it?
• Monitor what’s being said about the brand
• Track what and where people are hearing about your
brand
• Research predisposition to WoM at category and brand
level
• Set measurable objectives
• Test creative among identified targets
• Measure the outcome and track the impact
