In one of the more interesting methods seen recently to apply for a job, a couple of gentlemen have started a petition to gather referrals for their dream job: poolboys at the Playboy Mansion.
Yes, that’s right. Poolboys. After completing university, Sam Rush and a friend decided to pursue his dream of ogling beautiful women while maintaining the correct balance of chlorine in the Playboy Mansion pool. However, Playboy Enterprises told him that for ‘coveted’ jobs such as pool boys, one must have a ‘trusted referral.’
So, Mr. Rush decided to get those referrals. He’s constructed a website (www.blog.poolboysatthemansion.com) and wants your referral, and everyone elses, to help him get that coveted poolboy job.
But there’s one problem; why write a referral for someone you don’t know, especially for such a great job such as Playboy Mansion Poolboy? In fact, if anyone out there would write a referral for me, I would be most grateful!
Just kidding about that…(I love my job!) But what a great example of word-of-mouth and seeing where it could lead…who knows, it might actually work!
Periodically, it’s nice to have a set of hard figures and data to reinforce the belief that we’re on the right path. Here are some statistics from the Project Data Memo, by the Pew Internet and American Life Project…
-55% of teens have created a personal profile on a social networking site
-48% incorporate social networking activities into their daily lives
-70% of girls and 54% of boys aged 15 to 17 say they use online social networking sites.
-91% of teens users say they use the sites to stay in touch with friends they see frequently, 82% use the sites to stay in touch with friends they see rarely, 72% use the sites to make plans with friends, and 49% use the sites to make new friends.
-85% of teens who have created an online profile say the profile they use or update most often is on MySpace.
-Nearly half of teens who use social networks visit the sites either once a day (26%) or several times a day (22%), while 17% visit the sites three to five days per week, 15% visit one to two days per week, and 20% visit every few weeks or less often.
A recent article in The Guardian is yet another endorsement of the fact that brands are seeking to reenergize their presence by adopting Word of Mouth campaigns.
However, Marketing Directors beware! If you think you can simply buy positive Word of Mouth you really are missing the point.
Paying people to say nice things about your brand to their family and friends is not sustainable. In fact its one of the most damaging things you could do for your brand, especially when the end recipient realises they have been duped by someone they thought they could trust.
So where does this leave Word of Mouth Marketing?
Actually, its alive and kicking.
Word of Mouth is a natural phenomenon, it happens whenever two or more people come together and it will keep happening for as long as the human race keeps talking.
As your brands custodian you need to resist the urge to manipulate WOM and accept that to earn the endorsement of your customers you need to create remarkable products and services. Only by creating something truly remarkable can you be sure that people will say great things about you and only then will their friends truly believe them.
Nobody ever said it was going to easy.
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Interbrand’s 2006 Brandchannel’s Reader’s Choice Award (as voted online by 3,600 readers) results are out.
How about these interesting facts
- 40% of the brands in the top 10 are less than 10 years old
- Brands in positions 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 do NO ADVERTISING AT ALL
- None of the "new brands" spent money advertising to gain their position
I would argue that this indicates that if you want to build a successful brand today – you should focus on making your product remarkable so you achieve success through word of mouth, rather than waste your money on advertising
