Editor’s note: Jeri Smith is president and CEO of Communicus Inc., a Tucson, Ariz., research firm.
As consumers increasingly opt out of traditional advertising, the role of word of mouth in building brands continues to expand. In the last-century, classic version of word of mouth conjured up images of housewives trading stain-removal tips over the back fence. Today, many marketers think of word of mouth as something that is largely online, and can be created via the development of share-worthy videos or by convincing influencers to blog about their brand. In fact, the truth lies somewhere in between.
The vast majority of situations in which consumers gain information or impressions about brands via word of mouth occur offline, and are most likely to be within the family, among friends, or acquaintances. Recent research by Contagious Consultancy found that only 7percent of word of mouth occurs online, and, is generally peer-to-peer reviews, not brand-generated content.
However, the fact that advertisers don’t generate or control most word of mouth doesn’t mean that researchers shouldn’t try to understand the phenomenon. There are a number of ways in which word of mouth builds brands – each of which suggests ways in which advertisers might encourage the dynamic and harness the power of consumers talking to other consumers about brands.
Advertising builds chatter but boosts purchasing across the entire category
One CPG advertiser discovered that those who had seen their ads, even those who knew what brand was being advertised, talked to friends and family about the category, not the brand. Some who saw the ads for the brand were motivated to buy the brand, those who they talked to were motivated to buy within the category – but not necessarily to select the advertised brand.
Lesson learned: The advertising featured usage suggestions that clearly generated behavioral shifts. However, the advertiser learned that the usage suggestions needed to be ones for which only this brand would fill the bill. Otherwise, while those who engaged with the spots also gained communications about the brand superiority, this level of messaging wasn’t passed along to those with whom they shared the ideas – and these consumers had no reason to select this brand when implementing the usage suggestions.
Using advertising and word of mouth to unseat the king of cool
When Samsung introduced its Galaxy smartphones, they were up against the Apple iPhone. Advertising wouldn’t be enough to convince iPhone users that the Galaxy was cooler than their current device. The brand needed to figure out a way to harness word of mouth.
The advertising effort contained a number of aspects, with the most successful combination being ads that romanced the coolness of the Samsung Galaxy along with ads that focused on weaknesses of the iPhone – gently ridiculing the behaviors that these weaknesses had produced. For example, a ”wall huggers” commercial showed iPhone users sitting on the floor in airports and other awkward places charging their phones. According to our research, this second type of commercial was very effective in getting people to talk trash about iPhones, and to build perceptions of the Galaxy as the next big thing – resulting in consideration among both the talkers and the listeners.
Lesson learned: Badmouthing the competitor can work if done right. The effectiveness of the Galaxy effort can be enhanced by focusing on chatter-worthy scenarios that consumers can relate to – and can poke fun at themselves about.
Advertising that gets people talking about product features
The iPhone maintains its cool by introducing new versions with new features. Of course, the brand is historically a master of PR and advertising. Interestingly, our research shows that the advertising does a better job in getting people to talk about the iPhone than it does in directly building brand perceptions. In this case, advertising engagement generates word of mouth, word of mouth builds brand perceptions; and enhanced brand perceptions build desire for the product.
Lesson learned: Creating ads that will get people talking about the advertising can, in some cases, be more effective than advertising intended to build the brand directly. For iPhone, which relies on a combination of feature innovations and social acceptance, the word of mouth factor is critical.
The Super Bowl advertising phenomenon
Super Bowl advertisers have in recent years become masters at generating word of mouth about their commercials. Over half conduct some sort of pre-release promotion, with advertising supported contests and other consumer activations having joined the YouTube commercial pre-release as common phenomena. While many of these tactics are successful in getting people to talk about the commercial, the focus on the entertainment value of the experience often overwhelms the brand-related message. One of the most noteworthy examples were the Budweiser Puppy commercials from 2014 and 2015. Budweiser was declared by many to be the ‘winner’ among Super Bowl advertisers on the basis of the commercial views, shares and comments that it generated. However, the Puppy commercials failed to sell beer, as Anheuser Busch recently acknowledged in its announcement that the Puppies are being retired.
In contrast, advertisers whose commercials and activation programs center on the brand benefits can be more successful in generating buzz that actually produces result for the brand. A case in point is McDonald’s with the 2015 Pay with Lovin’ promotion and Super Bowl commercial that launched the brand’s new campaign. The intention was to project a warmer, more caring image for the brand to build affinity with customers and to counteract negative publicity. This effort, which was a well-integrated campaign that used a number of traditional and non-traditional media types, generated high levels of awareness and created buzz. It also motivated consumers to talk about how the chain was embracing higher order values that people everywhere would talk about and respect the brand for highlighting.
Lesson learned: With Super Bowl initiatives, it’s easy to fall into the trap of trying too hard to generate buzz by being entertaining, which often doesn’t result in meaningful marketplace results for the brand. Advertisers who craft campaigns that get people talking about the brand and its benefits are far more likely to succeed in the end game that really counts – the one that results ends at the cash register with increased sales.
The first step in harnessing the power of word of mouth is to understand that most word of mouth actually occurs consumer-to-consumer – the old fashioned way. Next, advertisers who study different ways that word of mouth can work are able to modify their advertising strategies amplify this naturally occurring phenomenon to the benefit of their brands.