When it comes to word-of-mouth (WOM) buzz about products–and specific brands–across a wide range of categories, expectant and new mothers are the champs, according to a new study from online resource BabyCenter and WOM-focused market research firm the Keller Fay Group.

Overall, pregnant women and new moms engage in one-third more WOM conversations per day than women in general or consumers as a whole, and almost two-thirds of their conversations include brand recommendations, the study found.

The studied group reported an average of 109 WOM conversations per week about products, services and brands, versus 83 among total women and 82 among the general public. These include about 70 brand-specific mentions per week, compared to 59 for women as a whole and 55 for the general public.

Furthermore, most of the conversations are positive, and considered highly credible by other moms … and most of them are driven by information on the Internet, as opposed to other media.

In January, Keller Fay asked 1,721 pregnant women and new mothers (those with children five years old or younger) to fill out an online survey probing specifics about their conversations during the previous 24 hours about products and brands across 14 categories. Respondents were asked to report on any form of conversation, whether it occurred face-to-face, over the phone, or through the Internet.

The women were recruited through BabyCenter’s "21st Century Mom Panel," its Web site (estimated to reach over 78% of online expectant/new mothers worldwide), and an external panel. Comparisons to the total public and total women were drawn from TalkTrack, Keller Fay’s ongoing, nationwide WOM study.

What are new/soon-to-be mothers talking about, exactly?

As might be guessed, 64% have at least one conversation per day about children’s products (versus 33% for total women and 25% for total public).

But discussions go far beyond kid-oriented products/brands. For example, the percentages of new/expectant moms who have at least one chat per day about key categories:

* Food and dining: 76% (versus 62% total women and 57% total public)

* Media and entertainment: 69% (versus 56% and 55%)

* Health/health care: 67% (versus 50% and 38%)

* Financial services: 60% (versus 38% and 32%)

* Beverages: 55% (versus 47% and 46%)

* Shopping, retail and apparel: 54% (versus 44% and 40%)

* The home: 52% (versus 34% and 28%)

* Technology: 48% (versus 36% and 40%)

* Telecommunications: 45% (versus 41% and 42%)

* Household products: 41% (versus 29% and 22%)

* Automotive: 39% (versus 35% and 36%)

* Personal care and beauty: 37% (versus 31% and 27%) and

* Travel services: 32% (versus 28% and 23%).

Perhaps the best news of all these and other marketers being discussed is that 60% of the WOM carries with it a recommendation to buy, try or consider the product/brand.

And since nearly 70% deem what they hear from their fellow moms to be very credible, 51% are likely to pass the information/recommendation along to others, and the same percentage indicate intent to purchase based on the information.

Not surprisingly, marketing/media advertising help drive much of the WOM: 38% of brand mentions also involve one or more references to some kind of marketing activity.

More notable is that 12% of brand mentions among this relatively young group of women result from information or mentions seen on the Internet, versus 11% for TV and just 2% to 5% for media such as magazines/newspapers, product packaging, in-store displays, and coupon circulars.

But as the researchers point out, given that broader studies show that 76% of all U.S. moms say that they use the Net for support and guidance and 70% participate in online communities, it’s natural that the Web would tie in closely with their WOM, including offline conversations.

Recommendations from the study include encouraging WOM within a marketing objective; identifying ways to "create contagion" (make it easy for consumers to share with one another); using "artful storytelling" to create differentiation in the consumer’s mind; and encouraging participation, collaboration and contribution.

Lets have some fun with a little logic bomb … step through these steps with me and lets see where we end up…

Starting with the simplest definition I could come up with of the difference.

Traditional advertising is when the brand tells you how great they are, Word of Mouth is when a friend tells you.

Advertising is expensive, so if you accept the above definition then, the natural, logical conclusion will become

Brands that need to use traditional advertising are not getting (enough) personal recommendation to succeed.

From which there will be only one logical assumption for the market to learn (which will become more and more true with time)

Brands that have to rely on traditional advertising are not as good as ones that succeed through word of mouth.

When we get to this stage it people perceive advertised products as inferior ie …

Advertising will actually damage a brand’s reputation

Now wont that be a weired?

By the way – I think we are already "in this place" for a number of categories. 

Films are one, the studios test the final product heavily before releasing it- if it gets poor recommendation (ie it stinks) they know that box office takings will fall off a cliff after the 4th day as enough people come out and recommend their freinds NOT to see it. So they pre-market the film through ATL to make sure that in the 4 days every seat is filled to maximise the returns.

Restaurants are another – when was the last time you saw an advert for a really really good restaurant?

I’m going to make a guess at another Divorce Lawyers – if you lived in the US where they can advertise, and it came to it, how would YOU find a good divorce lawyer – would you pick one that had to advertise or would you pick one that was getting enough work through being so good they got the recommendation

Shall we start a list – tell me what others should be in it

Films, restaurants, lawyers, doctors, dentists ….

For more – and to sign up to receive one a week go here – well worth it

Word-of-mouth–especially from family and friends–leads the pack in terms of influence on brand choice, but marketers still face a major challenge making it scalable, according to new data from media network ZenithOptimedia. As powerful as it may be, "we as an industry are not doing as good a job as we could do in generating it," says Bruce Goerlich, ZenithOptimedia’s president of strategic resources, North America.

Consumer touchpoints were each given a "contact clout factor"–a number on a scale of 1 to 100 that indicates relative influence on purchasing. Recommendations from family and friends led the pack with an average score of 84. TV ads and Internet search were next, with an average score of 69 and 67, followed by magazine ads at 60, newspaper ads at 55, outdoor ads at 45, radio ads at 42, and Internet banner ads at 41.

The ROI tracker also measures brand association, or the percentage of consumers who say they have seen or heard of a brand though a touchpoint in recent months. TV is still king in this category with 22% of consumers recalling an ad. Story here

LONDON (Reuters) – The Internet will usurp television as the biggest advertising medium in Britain by the end of 2009, according to a report published on Monday.

Britain has the most developed online advertising market in the world which the report by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), PricewaterhouseCoopers and the World Advertising Research Centre said was worth 2.8 billion pounds ($5.6 billion) in 2007.

It said last year’s 38 percent online ad growth was driven by the rising number of people online, the introduction of cheap laptops and the growing popularity of catch-up TV on the Internet through services such as Channel 4’s 4oD.

"With broadband speeds on the up and consumers spending more time on more sites, the outlook for online advertising is rosy — in fact we expect it to overtake TV in 2009 when it will become the UK’s biggest medium," IAB chief executive Guy Phillipson said in a statement.

The report said the Internet was the biggest driver of overall advertising growth in 2007, with the entire sector in Britain experiencing 4.3 percent growth to 18.4 billion pounds.

Online ad spend had a market share of 15.3 percent, up from 11.4 percent in 2006, but behind display press advertising at 19.9 percent and TV at 21.8 percent.