Bzz or bust? Put your money where your word-of-mouth is.

So WOM buzz behemoth Bzz Agent has recently offered a money-back guarantee which says that if their Word of Mouth campaign doesn't beat the brand partner's agency's traditional campaign by 20% across four metrics, they'll give the client their money back. And by money, they mean no less than the $300k minimum client's will need to pay to take Bzz Agent up on it.

I'm torn on whether this is a good tactic or not.  On the one hand, I give them credit for doing something WOM-worthy in itself to promote not only the power and importance of WOM for a campaign.  Also, since measuring metrics for WOM is a constant struggle, ideally, it may prove to be an effective outcome that could be good for the whole WOM industry.

However, 'brand cannot live by WOM alone', and probably shouldn't.  A great marketing campaign

builds awareness, perception, purchase intent and sales.  It takes a multitude of tactics and activations to really have an impact.  Why does it need to be us(non-traditional) vs. them (traditional)?  Can't we all just get along? 

Smart brands and agencies know that it's the right mix of the right tactics on the right timeline.   Maybe where the real economic impact could affect a brand is by using WOM in the early stages to see whether they've really got a 'fish on the line' based on genuine consumer feedback and authentic WOM.  This way, brands could avoid throwing good money after bad and to keep the analogy going, throw it back in the water.  Like Seth Godin says in The Dip, know when to quit.  WOM campaigns can spell that out for a brand early on.

So back to Bzz Agent's Money-Back guarantee.  I hope it works for them and I hope they can methodically prove to be 20% more effective than the agency's plan.  It would certainly work for me and One2One Network and I'd use every bit of proof they'll put out in my client pitches but it also could be a costly stunt.  Naysayers will be lining up to shoot them down.  I, for one, will put out my picnic blanket, crack open a bottle of wine and wait for the fireworks.  Oooooh!   Ahhhhhh! Ohhhhhh! 

Comments

[Nicole (SAHM Ramblings)]

I'm actually a BzzAgent and have been for several years. I had not heard about this new tactic and I find it very interesting. Mainly because as an agent, I'm Bzzing LESS right now. Why? Because I don't feel the love. They got a mention on Good Morning America and a jillion new agents signed up. Their company would be more effective if they capped the number of agents and showed them (us) some respect.

On a side note, I'm also a member of the One2One network. I look forward to participating in One2One campaigns and actually came to the blog to find a One2One badge for my blog!

[Barbara J]

Hi Nicole,
I have to agree with you on quality vs. quantity of Members. I mean with probably close to a half a million agents, how can BzzAgent get enough projects to fulfill the agents' desires? I think they have a great program but I want One2One Network to be a fun community for women tastemakers to do what they love to do--spread the word about great things. I'm working on getting badges made so I'll email you once they're up. Thanks for being a part of our Network.
Sincerely,
Barbara

[VanessaMarie]

I agree with both of you. Now there are tons of people taking advantage of Bzz and houseparty.com. Selling things on ebay instead of bzzing. My current campaign is a word of mouth manual, which has great information, but it has been disappointing to hear that people with out dogs got into the science diet campaign! They need some better methods to show us bzzagents some respect.

Though, I doubt it does any good if I see bzz or house party stuff on ebay i report it to the sites.

[Barbara J]

Hi Vanessa,
Unfortunately with these types of volunteer programs, there are always going to be those who want to take advantage of the system and who are not in it for the right reasons. It's the companies job to try and do their best to weed out the 'bad apples' but it's very hard to do. We go into each campaign expecting that people will do the right thing and if they don't or take advantage, we just remove them from the list. Times are tight these days for most people so for some, getting free things is a way to make ends meet or they look at it like a game. All you can do is do the best you can at what you sign up for and know that karma is on your side. That's how I look at it. I believe the karma wheel turns and 'gets' those in the end who have bad juju. :-) It's not my responsibility to make them 'good'. (I can kick them out of my Network though.)

You keep doing what you're doing. I hope you're part of my Network. If not, please join us. I like your style.

Sincerely,
Barbara
Founder/CEO
http://www.one2onenetwork.com