The document discusses the significance of word of mouth (WOM) marketing, particularly online WOM, and its effectiveness in today's fragmented media landscape. It provides a case study of how Toothy's Extra Dry leveraged social influencers to enhance brand visibility and credibility among the youth market in Melbourne. The key to successful WOM campaigns involves understanding social networks, engaging influential consumers, and creating authentic communication strategies that resonate with the target audience.

1. We Sell Conversations

2. Unleashing the power of word of mouth

3. Today: What is WOM? Why is online WOM so powerful? How to? Case Study: How online made Tooheys Extra Dry cool in Melbourne

4. Soup and Digital Word of Mouth (WOM)

5. Soup: Advocacy Agency We sell conversations

6. Soup WOM Programs Soup Menu WOM Programs Influencer Parties Online Community Brand Activists Influencer Marketing Seeding Social Media

7. THE MEDIA ENVIRONMENT Media Fragmentation & Cost Rise of Internet The World is Networked Current marketplace THE MARKETPLACE Level of Differentiation Low Short Term Financial Pressures Distribution of Competition Globalization of Competition Pace of Technology Faster THE CONSUMER Scarcity of Time Scarcity of Attention Scarcity of Trust The Heterogeneous Consumer Mass Marketing Less Effective Credibility of Conventional Tactics Low Established Brand/Business Models Under Threat Number of Choices/Brands Up – More Confusion Product Lifecycles Shortened Tuning Out Want Authenticity, Intimacy, Remarkability Rise of Word of Mouth Need for breakthrough vehicles Need for Remarkable Brands / Contagious Ideas Importance of Influential Consumers RISE OF WORD OF MOUTH MARKETING © Copyright 2009

8. What is Word of Mouth Offline WOM & Online WOM

9. What is Word of Mouth Genuine & honest Individual Buzz or Advocacy The most trusted medium

10. The Power of Online Word of Mouth

11. IT’S THERE FOREVER

12. IT CAN BE FOUND

13. REACHES MORE PEOPLE THAN ANY OTHER MEDIUM Even the hard to reach guy down here

14. LEADS TO BEHAVIOUR CHANGE – SALES!

15. ITS HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS

16. ITS ALL ABOUT THE INFLUENTIALS:

17. Offline Word of Mouth Online Word of Mouth Most trusted medium Highly relevant Speeds through strong ties (days) Highly trusted Highly relevant High speed of dissemination (seconds) One to one (or few) Ability of one to many Temporary Permanent Difficult to seek exact match Can search for it (web) Source mostly known Source unknown and known

18. Types of Online Word of Mouth WHAT DIRECT conversation, comments, reviews etc INDIRECT Badges, fan page, viral, buzz etc. HOW MESSAGE friends/ followers, mentions, readers, tagger etc MEDIUM Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Digg, StumbleUpon, Facebook, blogs, community etc.

19. ONLINE WOM HAS COMMUNITY AT ITS HEART

20. A virtual community is a communication and information system of social networks whose participants share a common purpose, interact in a virtual society and are able to develop personal relationships. Wikipedia 2009

21. We are in a community when we find somewhere we belong. (Community, The structure of belonging, Peter Block 2008)

22. Strong communities: Irvin Yalom Facilitate Information Sharing Part of something greater, belonging Builds hope and raises expectations Community Altruism: For the good of the community

23. How on-line amplifies WOM

24. 1. Understand Network 2. Who Influences 3. Engagement platform 5. Motivate to spread 4. Sticky Messages

25. Find the right Influentials in a network

26. Recruiting Influentials is a crucial step Cascade interviews are a pollinate proprietary technique based on social network theory. We need to find guys who are sociable and the connected ‘hub’ of their network Guys who organise and arrange the ‘good times’ for their mates Guys who are credible – they would be trusted to recommend a new beer.... Top Bloke We need to understand how recommendation works in the social network and to do these we map social networks cascade

27. How does it fit with a media plan?

28. BIG EXCITING Tooheys Extra Dry CASE STUDY!!

29. Tooheys Extra Dry Brand background and context

30. 25 ‘Key Social Organisers’ (KSOs) recruited Armed with exclusive flip cameras, event tickets and beer cards Asked to film their summer Supported at their own events Authentic communication is the only way to utilize the power of influence Authenticity is crucial Photo credit: Bourbon Baby  

31. TED Background Part of a broader getting closer to consumers strategy. Intrinsically a brand aimed at 18-24 years olds – digital natives. Live with them not advertise at them. TED is a brand owned by the consumer but custody awarded to LNA.

32. Communication Context Activity is based around the consumer 6 beers of sep, 696, uncharted, festival sponsorship, tedconnected

33. TED and Digital Digital provides the best pathway for two way communication and immersion: Immediate personal influential easy

34. The Opportunity The Brief The Insights

35. The Opportunity To live our “mantra” – let the consumer own the brand, influence it’s direction.

36. The Opportunity Live in their world – don’t tell them what is cool but let them tell us.

37. The Brief Explode our impact in the Victorian market. Let them tell the story – credibility. Have a start, middle and end. Give them something to hang their hat on.

38. The Insights Start with summer locations: a place for people to try new things, Don’t tell people what to do, let them do it in their own way. Online is where they communicate and share but real world is where they experience .

39. The Idea

40. Word of Mouth Campaign Strategic Framework 1. Understand Network 2. Most Influential 3. Involve and engage 5. Motivation to talk 4. Sticky Messages A successful word of mouth campaign is built using the five key ingredients.

41. Melbourne: 18-24 years olds. Key social influentials (the people who organise the others for summer). Exhaustive face to face research in Melbourne to discover them. They need to be found , they won’t find you. Creators of online content. The 1% that will influence the 99% offline and online. Focus on the creators to spread

42. Focus on the creators to spread Our Influentials Their Friends

43. Community Building Blocks: Yalom Facilitate Information Sharing Part of something greater, belonging Build hope and raise expectations Co-create community and take ownership Summer Community name and identity. Video compilation. Expect a great Summer (festivals, VIP) then surprise.

44. Facebook tags – part of their life Name withheld

45. Facebook tags – authentic conversation

46. Amplifying Impact 25 Key Social Organisers 17,000 Friends Combined Uploads videos, authentic conversations Tags friends who are in his video ‘ tagged’ friend then broadcasts to his friends

47. Impact and next steps for the program

48. Incredible Results with online WOM Digitally tracked: 777,000 highly credible brand impressions Independent 3 rd party research: early data demonstrates a 12% shift in adoration for the product in Melbourne. Brand impact: Natural branding pieces that are credible among the target market. Long-term impact: Adorers for life – harder to get a lover than keep a lover.

49. 1. Creation of a Extra Dry Panel (TED Connected) – the first to know. 2. Natural migration for the community – don’t dump them. © Copyright 2009 Next Steps

50. Summary: to unleash the power on online WOM!!!

51. Be Versatile Be Human Be Fluid Be Immediate Be Responsive Be Brave