For anyone that’s going to be in Shanghai November 7-8th, or fancies a quick getaway, I’ll be speaking at the JF Pearson ‘Media Effectiveness’ Conference.  There are many great speakers on the agenda, and it should be an excellent place to network.

Sound like something you might be interested in attending?  You can read more about it here.

When executives of Procter & Gamble and Wal-Mart stand up at a trade conference and tell fellow marketers what they’ve been doing is all wrong, the smart people in the audience do one thing.

They listen.

“The power is with the consumer,” said A. G. Lafley, chief executive at the Procter & Gamble Company. “Marketers and retailers are scrambling to keep up with her.”  Mr Lafley is referring to a grassroots approach to marketing – no longer is the ‘top down’ approach to selling a product working.  It’s simple really; customers just want more control over the products they buy.

BMW’s Mini Cooper is an excellent example of this ‘grassroots’ approach.  The Mini is customizable; when you buy your version, you can select among hundreds of options.  Sixty-percent of customers do just that.

"The fact that so many customers choose to customize their cars showed executives that ‘we’d never have complete control over the brand,’ said James L. McDowell, managing director at Mini USA."

Wise words from a wise company…

The online video craze used to be not only an American-based phenomenom, but primarily used by teenagers.  It was a potentially powerful marketing and word-of-mouth mechanism then – but now it’s even bigger.

With Google’s recent acquisition of YouTube, the potential for more and more people around the world to submit and view videos is growing astronomic.  Already, many YouTube videos are posted by Asians, while Poland is a leader amongst European nations using Google Video.

The profileration, ease of use and cost-reduction of digital video equipment and computers, coupled with higher bandwiths increasing around the globe has given the online video market an exponential boost in its capabilities. 

The truth is out there, now it’s just a matter of who puts it on the ‘net first…

Read the story here

From recent WOMMA research:

"The study, which tapped WOMMA member BzzAgent’s volunteer consumer evangelists as respondents, found that WOM is at its best when it is integrated into a variety of daily situations, settings and relationships."

-While seven in 10 WOM agents talk about products with friends and family, many also talk to coworkers (58%), casual acquaintances (48%), and strangers (25%)
-While most agents spread WOM at home (82%), at work (56%) and in others’ homes (55%), agents also talk about products at social gatherings (43%), in stores (25%), and in restaurants or bars (25%)
-WOM is spread most often face to face (99%), but some agents use the phone (42%), email (30%), instant messages and text messages (17%), and online chat rooms and blogs (9%) to talk about products
-Among agents who told 11+ people about a product, 59% motivated 3+ people to buy the product, 63% got 3+ people to seek more information, 71% induced 3+ people to spread their own word of mouth, and 77% got 3+ people to consider a future purchase