Advertising Drives WOM: We Knew That...

AdAge covers a research initiative from the ARF and Wharton School which appears to be an aggregation of existing research papers. The AdAge report comes across as the expected, "see, advertising works," coverage you would expect with little substantive insight.

They do cover ("re-cover') Keller Fay's research that supports the WOM-driving potential of paid media. Their research as reported here, doesn't cover the most powerful combination - WOM programs that are integrated with paid media with the express purpose of driving more WOM. Still, for those folks who believe the worlds of earned and paid media should not cross, the power of paid media to extend a WOM program and drive greater reach are clear.

"A study co-authored by one of the biggest proponents of word-of-mouth marketing, Ed Keller of the Keller Fay group and co-author of seminal tome "The Influentials," finds 22% of word-of-mouth conversations were sparked directly by advertising. Moreover, those 22% are much more likely to include brand recommendations than the remaining 78% of brand-related conversations that weren't spurred directly by an ad.

What's more, the study, based on interviews of more than 3,000 consumers to capture content of face-to-face conversations, finds an even higher proportion of online buzz -- 30% -- generated by ads. Those numbers probably understate advertising's impact, according to the study, because they don't account for indirect influence from ads."

Comments

[Ed Keller]

John,

Thanks for covering our research. Our research clearly finds, as reported, that there is significant potential for advertising to help drive word of mouth conversation. We also have seen in our research evidence to support your assessment that “WOM programs that are integrated with paid media with the express purpose of driving more WOM” are a powerful combination. In fact, our data show clearly that WOM is the most powerful in generating recommendations and purchase intent when it is based on customer experience plus exposure to adverting, PR, and/or other forms of marketing communication, whether the conversations or the marketing occur online or offline.
Ed Keller
CEO
The Keller Fay Group

[vedinteractive]

Yes, this is something that you would expect though its nice to see some numbers substantiating the facts. Another part of this study were the recommendations, one of which was for marketers to focus more on acquisition rather than retention. A sweeping statement not necessarily something I would agree with specially now when brand loyalty is so important

[John Bell]

@VEDInteractive - most great WOM programs are about sustaining longer term relationships - something that supports "retention"

[John Bell]

@edkeller - we are just beginning to focus on the integrated effect of WOM programs and other disciplines like paid media. That is where the future lies as that is the most impactful use of WOMM - generally speaking. Folks are too preoccupied with portraying WOMM as an alternative to traditional marketing....