Word of Mouth

image band Creative • Marketing • Knowledge • Strategic • Consumer • Solutions • Research Brands • Communication • Advantage • Global • Dynamic • Innovation • Understanding • Insight Convergence • ROI • Technology • Ideas • Leader • Analysis • Focus • Relationships • Future Consulting • Experience • Satisfaction • Vision • Momentum • Advertising • Media • Evaluation Multicultural • Information • Opportunity • Qualitative • Crossmedia • Optimisation • Predictive Intelligence • Quantitative • Impact • Loyalty • Online • Measurement • Attitudes • Clarity Internet • Conceptual • Emotion • Impression • Performance • Digital • Impact • Positioning Word of Mouth WORD OF MOUTH Harnessing the Power of Online Word of Mouth The days when marketers had almost complete control over how the image of their brand was projected are well and truly over. In the digital world, user-generated comment— online Word of Mouth — is increasingly influential in shaping perceptions of brands. So for brand owners and their agencies there’s an urgent need to understand how this new kind of communication works, and what you can do to turn it to your advantage. For over 30 years, Millward Brown has led the way in analysing and understanding the effectiveness of brand communications. Now, as the media landscape continues to change at bewildering speed, we remain at the leading edge, helping clients all over the world to harness the power of the internet. Understanding a Medium Where Everyone Can Be an “Expert” Internet users are increasingly taking control, with millions creating and sharing content — and opinions — on sites like YouTube, MySpace and Facebook, as well as through blogging. At the same time, as Internet users have entered into a vast online conversation with each other, trust in corporations and brand owners has declined. For instance, people are finding TV advertising increasingly annoying and less enjoyable to watch; and, before making purchasing decisions, more people turn to independent third parties. Decline in Trust Percentage of Europeans who “do not trust” the press, radio, television, political parties, big companies and religious institutions, 2003 Mainstream media channels The Press Radio 30% 31% 36% 25% 31% 21% 31% 31% Television 47% 32% 53% 29% 5 1% 31% 38% 41% Corporations and Institutions Political Parties 82% 80% 78% 65% 69% 71% 79% 77% Big Companies 61% 62% 52% 52% 5 1% 65% 64% 58% Religious Institutions 52% 44% 34% 47% 3 7% 67% 46% 45% Aiming to Engineer Repeatable Success For clients accustomed to more controllable media, the Internet can seem a dauntingly unfamiliar landscape. In particular, the power of online conversation to “make or break” a brand may look random and unpredictable. But at Millward Brown, we take a different view. We have known for years that talking to friends and family has been a key influence on purchasing decisions. Drawing upon our wide understanding of media and communications, and using an array of proven quantitative and qualitative techniques, we aim to show clients how they can use online Word of Mouth, just as they use other communications media. It’s a practical, down to earth approach based upon planning, executing and testing campaigns, in order to engineer repeatable success. France Germany Italy Netherlands Spain Sweden UK Europe Total 38% 47% 50% 38% 38% 60% 78% 40% Source: Euroborometer 60.1 D ATA M O N I T O R Traditional media sources are still important, as is face-to-face discussion. But there is now a third community of experts which can be accessed online — and in which a rapidly increasing number of Internet users prefer to put their trust. A practical approach to ensuring your brand generates positive online Word of Mouth. image band Online Word of Mouth: The Four Key Questions When we talk to client organisations aware of this enormous shift in the way the Internet is working, four key questions always come up: • What are people saying about my brand online? • Does what they are saying matter to my brand? • How can I influence what they say? • How do I establish whether what I did worked? Let’s look at how the suite of services Millward Brown offers has been developed in response to each of these. iPod Nano Scratches/Cracks BBC, CNN etc. “Nano screen woes deepen” - TheRegister Apple responds hits mainstream media Slashdot mentions TheRegister Steve Rubel posts a graph and asks “will Apple respond?” TheRegister.com picks up on the Apple forums, bloggers pick up on TheRegister.com ipodnanoflaw.com mentioned Bloggers start to ask questions Discussions start on Apple forums The Easy Way to Listen In At Millward Brown, we’ve developed a unique package to help track a brand’s exposure within consumer-generated media and to understand how this is influencing target audiences and customers. The starting point is to listen in electronically on what is being said in all kinds of online sources, such as online news outlets, blogs and message boards. In some cases, this could throw up hundreds of comments every hour, so we’ve developed a sophisticated analytical tool that enables us to cut through the volume of mentions in real time — making sense of a mass of content, by analysing the favourability of comments about brands and services. This assignment of favourability ratings to subjects is automated, but verified by professional coders. “What Are People Saying About My Brand Online?” Before marketers can hope to influence what’s being said about their brand online, first they need to understand the conversations already taking place. In particular, they need to know immediately when something major occurs which could result in long term damage to their brand, if not dealt with. This doesn’t happen very often; but, when it does, a huge head of steam can build up about an issue or a product, very fast — and a large and irate online community can coalesce around it. For example, we saw this in the case of the iPod Nano. iPod users were finding that the screen cracked and set up a site for other discontented customers to share their complaints, and thousands of postings were received before the issue even touched the conventional media. Then, as quickly as this community came together to complain, it disappeared again. The Web site no longer exists because the problem was rectified by Apple. But a huge number of angry and disappointed customers complained before any of the conventional alerting mechanisms were triggered. Volume and Tone of iPod Mentions Consumer Generated Media “Does What’s Being Said Online Matter to My Brand?” The iPod example demonstrates the effect of online “people power.” And we have done further research to find out how much this could affect people’s likelihood to purchase a brand. In this next example, we asked how people informed themselves about a brand. While TV advertising is the most recalled source, online sources are also high, ahead of newspapers and magazines. “Talking to someone else” is also prominent. When buying a digital camera, 47 percent of people say that discussions with friends and family play an important part in their purchasing decision, and 17 percent use “informal” online sources, such as message boards, to help them make a decision. Crucially, though, online Word of Mouth can be even more influential in providing reasons not to buy. Our analysis shows that the people who write about specific brands in an online forum are more likely to post negative comments. Clearly, people use the Internet as a means of venting their frustration at poor service or product quality. So when negative issues do emerge online, they can escalate very quickly. Source of Information about Motorola Identifying “Transmitters” and “Receivers” Without doubt, then, what some people say online can influence others. But, before we can hope to influence what they are saying about a specific brand, how can we identify who they are? In our quantitative studies, we ask some simple questions which help us categorise them as “transmitters” or “receivers”. Naturally, there are some product categories that people are more keen to talk about than others: discussing films we’ve seen, for example, is just part of everyday life. So the number of transmitters varies from category to category. This is an important element of Word of Mouth: it requires an inequality of information. If everyone has the same information, why would anyone need to ask for advice? Clearly, different types of purchasing decisions require varying degrees of research. While we may do a lot of research before buying a car or a computer, we’re unlikely to phone a friend to ask for a recommendation on which chocolate bar to buy. As you can see below, Word of Mouth — whether online or offline — is a very significant factor in purchasing decisions within some categories: Percentage Seeking Online and Offline Advice within Different Categories Influencing the Many By Talking to the Few For marketers, what matters most is not just the extent to which people will talk about a category, but the ratio of receivers to transmitters. Because it’s this that makes Word of WORD OF MOUTH Mouth marketing attractive: the potential to influence the many by talking to the few people who influence them. “How Do I Establish Whether What I Did Worked?” As we started by saying, tracking the effectiveness of brand communications in different media has always been at the heart of Millward Brown’s business; and the Internet is no exception. Once the brand’s story is out there on the Internet, our tracking and analysis tools will start listening to what’s being said. Has the thread been picked up? Is it generating positive comment? Then, to close the circle, we can go to our online panels to find out whether it has affected awareness and opinions among our key target groups. In short, we do online exactly what we do offline: help our clients to plan, execute and increase the effectiveness of their campaigns, in order to build their brands and maximise the return on their marketing investment. “How Can I Influence What’s Being Said About My Brand?” Our approach uses TGI (Target Group Index) to identify and profile potential transmitters within a category. This provides us with useful information about these people’s interests and tendencies. For example, people who are very likely to convince others about purchasing decisions in TV or audio are also very likely to be heavy users of various technologies such as plasma screens, iPods and Sky+. We also know about their drinking habits and pastimes: Very Likely to Convince Others About TV/Audio Contact Us For more information please e-mail us or visit our Web site. info@uk.mbprecis.com www.mbprecis.com From this information, we can build up a detailed profile of the most effective transmitters, which can be used in generating the creative content for “talkable” campaigns — whether using viral methods, or more simply, competitions and special offers. Using our suite of Link approaches, we can determine the buzz factor or “conversational value” of any proposed creative. And, just as important, we can test for any potential pitfalls. In the online world, it’s extremely important to ensure that the design and content of any idea designed to stimulate conversations is going to work, since consumers won’t pass it on unless this is the case.