Is this how the world sees Word of Mouth Marketing?
March 20th, 2006
The Orlando Sentinel brings us yet another article on the underbelly of word of mouth marketing. They hit on the usual subjects – and companies, but I’d like to point out some particulars:
“It’s desperation as well as innovation. And it’s never going to stop,” said Stuart Fischoff, emeritus professor of media psychology at California State University, Los Angeles.
Come now, professor. The wild thing is that the paragraph before this quote started out saying, “These so-called stealth and word-of-mouth marketers help advertisers…” Ouch. They lump shill and WOMM into the same bucket. Not cool.
“I’ll tell family, friends, even strangers,” said Buske, 33. “I’ve talked a lot of people into doing things they wouldn’t normally do.”
Laurin Buske is a BzzAgent. Not exactly the sound byte the PR department is looking for, eh? (Oh, that’s right, any PR is good PR.)
And my favorite quote from the Chief Executive, Sam Ewen, of Interference Inc., (the name of the company in-and-of itself should tell you something):
“We attempt never to openly deceive people,” Ewen said.
This is the company that sends guys onto subways to openly brag about the financial advisor and plants models in bars with a pack of cigarettes in front of them to wait for someone to ask them for a smoke.
I’ve said it before: There’s a HUGE difference between attempting never to deceive people and not deceiving people. Shame on you, Interference. As for the other companies mentioned in the article, well, I think you know my opinions on them.
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