Overview of Connected Marketing

In Part One: Connected Marketing Practice, Paul Marsden, a market researcher at the London School of Economics, kicks off with a chapter on seed marketing - pre-launch sampling initiatives with opinion leaders, conducted in the name of market research. The chapter explains how to set up and run effective seeding trials, and uses case studies from Procter & Gamble, Pepsi, 3M, Google and Microsoft to show how seeding trials with opinion leading consumers can boost sales by up to 30%. By triggering a powerful psychological mechanism called the Hawthorne Effect that transforms trial participants into loyal adopters and vocal word of mouth advocates, Marsden argues that seeding trials are a scientific, proven and scalable solution for launch optimization.

In Chapter 2: Live buzz marketing, Justin Foxton, founding partner and CEO of live buzz marketing agency CommentUK, describes how to use street theatre and live performance to create word of mouth. Using a number of UK case studies from GlaxoSmithKline, Unilever and London Transport, Foxton also addresses the issues of stealth and transparency in using live performance to create word of mouth: can actors create intrigue and excitement and go undercover, passing their performances off as real life, or should live buzz campaigns always disclose themselves as marketing?

Sven Rusticus, CEO of European marketing communications agency Icemedia, introduces brand advocacy programmes in Chapter 3: Creating brand advocates. after discussing a number of introduce-a-friend referral programmes designed to generate brand advocacy, Rusticus shows how brands such as adidas, L'Oreal and O'Neill are turning brand fans into word of mouth advocates by providing them with their own branded contact cards. Featuring the latest campaign artwork on one side and personal contact details on the other, branded contact cards are sent out by mail, and get handed out at social occasions, stimulating brand advocacy.

Chapter 4: Brewing buzz by Liam Mulhall, founder of Australian beer manufacturer Brewtopia, provides an in-depth case study of Blowfly Beer to show how a creative combination of buzz marketing initiatives can be integrated into a comprehensive launch strategy. Based on learning from Blowfly's success, the chapter provides a number of recommendations for planning and implementing buzz marketing campaigns.

In Chapter 5: Buzzworthy PR, Graham Goodkind, founder and chairman of UK-based Frank Public Relations, argues that public relations and buzz marketing are two sides of the same coin. Good PR campaigns not only generate media coverage, they stimulate word of mouth by getting people talking. Goodkind uses case studies from Mattel Fisher-Price toys, New Scientist magazine, Condomi condoms and Slendertone to illustrate PR campaigns that took word of mouth to a new level. He concludes by revealing his formula for producing buzzworthy PR activity.

Chapter 6: Viral marketing by Justin Kirby, founder and managing director of UK- and Australia-based online viral and buzz marketing consultancy Digital Media Communications, introduces the field of viral marketing. After a brief look at definitions and the history of viral marketing, Kirby lays out why businesses are increasingly including viral marketing in their brand marketing activities, what the risks and issues are, and how to plan a successful viral marketing campaign (focusing specifically on how to use entertaining video-based advertisements to spread awareness virally online). He finishes by presenting and reviewing some key viral marketing case studies from brands including Bacardi, Trojan, Ford, Virgin Mobile UK, Mazda UK and Burger King.

Idil Cakim, director of knowledge development at the global PR firm Burson-Marsteller provides in Chapter 7: Online opinion leaders a blueprint for identifying online opinion leaders and demonstrates their influence in the propagation of a viral marketing campaign for software company SAP Cakim shows that people are almost twice as likely to open an advertising clip when it is forwarded from someone with an opinion-leading profile.

In Chapter 8: Buzz monitoring, Pete Snyder, CEO and founder of US-based New Media Strategies, shows how online buzz monitoring -measuring and tracking online word of mouth - can be a powerful business tool. Using case studies from the likes of Burger King and Royal Ahold, Snyder shows how sensitivity to what people are saying about a product or service enables businesses to respond quickly to needs, wants and desires.

Chapter 9: Changing the game turns to the potential of online branded games as a buzzworthy alternative to passive or 'interruptive' advertising. Steve Curran, president of US digital design agency Pod Digital, makes the case that online branded games are not only entertaining; they also provide an opportunity for interactive involvement with a brand. Curran shows how Coca-Cola, Nike, Mitsubishi, Nabisco, Procter & Gamble and many other brands are making branded games an increasingly important feature of their advertising mix.

Chapter 10: Blog marketing has been written by a collaboration of marketing experts all running their own blogs (short for weblogs -frequently updated personal or collaborative websites in the form of diarized journals containing opinions, information and weblinks that reflect the interests and personalities of their authors). The authors suggest that blogs can be effective promotional tools for products, services, brands and companies. Andrew Corcoran (senior marketing lecturer at Lincoln Business School, University of Lincoln), Paul Marsden (London School of Economics), Thomas Zorbach (CEO of German marketing agency vm-people) and business book author Bernd Rothlingshofer provide evidence that blogs are powerful vehicles of online word of mouth. Using promotional blogs from McDonalds, Nike, Nokia and Microsoft as examples, the authors outline the different ways blog marketing can be used to ignite word of mouth and stimulate sales.

Part Two: Connected Marketing Principles begins with Chapter 11: Word of mouth: what we really know - and what we don't, an overview of 50 years of academic research into word of mouth by Greg Nyilasy from Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. Nyilasy discusses the prevailing definition of word of mouth in academia as well as the major theoretical explanations for its power. He reviews the results of over 100 studies about the cause and effect of word of mouth, and concludes with 13 recommendations for marketing practitioners about how to manage and evaluate word of mouth programmes.

Chapter 12: Black buzz and red ink by Brad Ferguson, founder of US marketing consultancy Intrinzyk and founder emeriti of US marketing agency Informative, looks at the financial impact of negative word of mouth. Using an in-depth case study focusing on the US airline industry, Ferguson shows how just a 1% reduction in negative word of mouth for an airline is likely to add US$4 million in operating profit, while an increase of 1% in positive word of mouth is worth just under US$2 million.

Stéphane Allard, associate director at French word of mouth marketing agency Spheeris, puts right some of the common misperceptions about buzz marketing in Chapter 13: Myths and promises of buzz marketing. Allard debunks the myths that you can only create buzz around exciting, groundbreaking products, that you don't need to manage buzz, that managing buzz is cheap, and that buzz can't be measured.Allard also provides some working definitions that differentiate viral, buzz and word of mouth marketing from other approaches such as street marketing and stealth marketing.

In Chapter 14: Buzz marketing: the next chapter, Schuyler Brown, co-creative director at US-based Buzz@Euro RSCG, looks at innovations and emerging trends in buzz marketing - initiatives designed to stimulate word of mouth among a target market. Identifying five key new realities for buzz marketers and making six forecasts for the future, Brown uses buzz campaigns from Polaroid, Reebok and Burger King to illustrate how to create buzz successfully in change-obsessed consumer culture.

Chapter 15: How to manage connected marketing by Martin Oetting, head of marketing and PR at the Berlin campus of ESCP-EAP European School of Management, places the different areas of connected marketing into an integrated framework. Oetting suggests that, jargon aside, connected marketing boils down to two essential activities: connecting with clients, customers, or consumers via buzzworthy campaigns; and connecting via opinion-leading market influencers who have an effect on the mass market through partnerships and privileged 1-2-1 dialogue.

In the conclusion, Justin Kirby reiterates the essence of what connected marketing is, providing an overview of how best to use it and touching on ethics and measurement issues. He then offers 10 predictions about the future of connected marketing.

Together, the chapters in Connected Marketing show how viral, buzz and word of mouth campaigns are leading the charge in a marketing revolution that makes marketing remarkable again and puts clients, customers and consumers, rather than marketers, at the centre of the marketing process. Shunning the old 'command and control' mentality of mass marketing, viral, buzz and word of mouth marketing champions a new 'connect and collaborate' vision, where marketing is done with people rather than at them.We call it the connected marketing revolution.

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