
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to this week’s edition of Five for Friday!
In honor of WOMMA‘s Summit 2011, we thought we’d take a closer look at the five priciples of effective word of mouth marketing (WOM) and tie them to the amazing honors we (along with our digital partner, Organic, Inc. and client, Kimberly-Clark), received for our work on U by Kotex*: a gold WOMMY Award (given for the best WOM program that introduced a new product or service) and Grand Prix (given to recognize best in show):
Principle 1: Effective WOM is credible.
To successfully launch U by Kotex*, we had to take on an entire category by being culturally disruptive and consistently innovative. We had to make our target consumers – millennial women – understand that this was not their mother’s menstrual protection by driving an authentic, educational and credible dialogue about women’s health.
Principle 2: Effective WOM is respectful.
All of the research conducted prior to the planning phase proved that our target wanted to talk and know more about their periods and changing bodies, but felt the topic was too taboo to discuss openly. They wanted someone to stop talking about vaginas and menstruation in euphemisms and metaphors that provoke women’s disconnection, embarrassment and shame. They wanted to lift the unspoken ban on saying the word vagina. In short, they wanted someone who respected them. This presented an opportunity for U by Kotex* to become a champion for women and torch-bearer for a momentous cultural shift designed to remove the shame from being a woman.
Principle 3: Effective WOM is social.
To launch U by Kotex*, we created a social movement that empowered millennials to change the conversation about vaginal health and menstruation. We helped these women understand and be comfortable with their femininity – in the places and with the people they trust most. Our comprehensive social strategy ensured that our messages reached and were shared by our target on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, each of which played a strategic role in our integrated plan.
Principle 4: Effective WOM is repeatable.
To ensure that our key messages were repeatable, we turned to the media that mattered most to our target. An integration with the Tyra Banks Show saw the popular hostess ask her audience to say “vagina” out loud and, in doing so, reclaim the word; a NYC-media event saw reality star Khloé Kardashian break down a graffiti-covered wall filled with fem-care euphemisms; and lastly, partnerships with popular long-lead .coms (like Cosmopolitan.com), wellness sites (like Healthline.com), blogs (like Yahoo! Shine) and personal care sites (like Glam.com) ensured the delivery of clear information that could easily be “liked,” commented upon and shared.
Principle 5: Effective WOM is measurable.
In recognition of our efforts, hundreds of women thanked U by Kotex* for igniting a long overdue conversation about vaginal health. The program has been a remarkable success story, earning the brand 6.5 times the number of online conversations as its closest competitor.
Our target recognized the issue and joined in the conversation; they created video responses, posted comments, shared, blogged and re-tweeted about the advertisements and social experiment videos. Close to 3 million visited the U by Kotex* website, where more than 850,000 requested samples. They viewed YouTube videos more than 2.5 million times and streamed an additional 265,585 views on the website. They pushed more than 25,500 tweets and generated 86,500 social discussions, securing over 100 million impressions. 18,252 signed the brand’s “Declaration of Real Talk” and nearly 25,000 liked U by Kotex* on Facebook.
For our part, more than 640 million media impressions were garnered, with highlights including The New York Times, The Today Show, TMZ, People.com, OK! Magazine, Seventeen, Teen Vogue, The Huffington Post and AdAge.
Most importantly, this successful word-of-mouth campaign has yielded impressive business results. Now that’s effective WOM!
Have an exciting WOM program to share? Leave us a comment and let’s discuss!