I recently had a friend who works in the financial sector suggest and implement the voluntary corporate regulation of several products that could prove hazardous to the consumer finances. By doing that, positive buzz was generated for the company’s social responsibility to protect consumer investments. Several media stories ended up appearing in several newspapers (including the Wall Street Journal), cnbc.com, and even a mention on Mad Money with Jim Cramer. In fact, the company’s competitors are following suit and voluntarily regulating their product offerings based on the positive PR that my friend’s company received.
While the above case indicates several of the areas where the company was receiving free advertising, I can only begin to suspect what that positive PR would cost in advertising dollars. It’s got to be an enormous amount that I can’t even begin to fathom. However, what interested me was the unknown impact of word-of-mouth advertising generated from the media buzz. I was lucky enough to find an article on AdWeek.com that discussed the rise in WOM advertising spending and it isn’t cheap!
According to the study, WOM advertising has increased to $1.54 billion, and is expected to grow another 14.5% between 2008 and 2013. Advertisers are increasing spending for WOM campaigns because of the campaigns’ ability to effectively capture the attention of target audiences. Especially with popularity and use of social networking sites, especially YouTube and Twitter, WOM is an integral part of the overall marketing mix and indicates its importance in the future.
References:
http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/client/e3i98008be32bed3d6c6eca0b3667515188
About Me
- eckramer
- Growing up in Atlanta, GA, I moved to New Orleans, LA to achieve my BBA in Marketing and Management from Loyola University New Orleans. After being displaced by Hurricane Katrina, I spent a semester at Georgia State University, but was able to return to New Orleans to achieve my degree. Following graduation, I returned to Atlanta to pursue a coveted career in advertising. Currently, I am working as an assistant traffic manager at a prestigious advertising agency. I am a self-motivated, organized, detail-oriented, advertising professional with a strong sense of project ownership and proactive approach to issue resolution. Although my background has been primarily focused on online media, I have the ambition to learn and master new technologies, processes, departments, and other innovative facets of the advertising industry including broadcast and print production, public relations, communications, and strategy. I interact with a variety of people, personalities, and overcome unique challenges on a daily basis in a highly-dynamic environment under strict deadlines. I am always looking to increase success for myself, my agency, and our clients.