Who is Fizz?
Fizz is a word of mouth marketing agency based in Atlanta, Georgia that provides award winning campaigns for the beverage industry. Our goal at Fizz is to help you build your brand. Our focus is simple to identify the customers and potential customers most likely to talk about your brand (we call these people influencers) and then use creative tactics to encourage communication. We call this “Influencer Marketing” and it is the most effective technique available to you for growing your brand.
Influencer Marketing includes tactics such as evangelist, viral, grassroots and seeding, to name a few. Although these may seem like buzzwords, each is a distinct tactic that has its proper time and place. They are often used together to create great stories about your brand that people will want to share with one another over an extended period of time.
All Influencer Marketing techniques are based on the concepts of customer satisfaction, two-way dialog and transparent communications. The basic elements are:
- Identifying the people most likely to share their opinions
- Studying how, where and when opinions are being shared
- Providing the tools to make it easier to share information
- Listening and responding to people that have good, bad or indifferent things to say
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Fizz has in-house strategic, creative and executional staff making Fizz a one stop shop for all aspects of a successful word of mouth campaign.
Who are the Influencers?
You know them; the person who always has the best recommendation for restaurants, new drinks, music, books; whatever they are passionate about. They have a lot of information that is valuable to their friends. In short, Influencers are a personality type; not a person. They represent about 15% of the North American population. Influencers have three distinct personality traits.1. They search for new things because they are new
2. They share information with their friends by communicating with stories
3. Friends like being around them because Influencers always know what’s new; this saves their friends time and effort having to discover everything for themselves
It is this combination of traits that makes Influencers so effective as well as makes them identifiable using Fizz’s methodology. These people exist in different demos, cultures and subcultures and typically influence more than one group since they have a broad range of interests and social circles.
How does Influencer Marketing work?
For Influencers, great stories are social currency. They thrive on being at the center of each of their social circles and are constantly searching for new ways to increase their collection of stories. They do this by finding new information and sharing it in an entertaining way.From this word-of-mouth process, brands gain awareness and credibility. The Influencer's status continues to grow as their friends try the brands recommended to them and report back with positive feedback. As the positive feedback grows, the Influencer becomes more vested in the brand's success.
How many Influencers do you have?
Our proprietary database, Fizz Corp, controls thousands of passionate Influencers across all beverage styles and brands. Many of you are used to talking about the quantity of people that see a particular message. We, however, are talking about quality, not quantity for Influencers. Demographics are a range of ages, not a target market. We use a proprietary methodology which focuses on the quality of your audience. This is grounded in a strategic mix of account planning, research and in-depth data. Each campaign results in a different number of Influencers. We can provide numbers for you if you’re interested in the specific details of our case studies.
What sort of creative does Fizz do?
We have award winning in-house creative capability in a number of disciplines. We also work with your pre-existing creative such as promotions, TV commercials, PR campaigns, etc. The type of creative we ultimately use is determined by listening to the target audience and understanding the format they are going to respond to. This means that after we have enough information for the particular audience, we use one of our tactis in order to encourage them to communicate.
How do I know if Influencer Marketing will work for my brand?
Do you have a good brand story that once people learn it, they will want to share it with others? If you answered “yes”, then Influencer Marketing will work for your brand.
Can we use you even if we’re doing TV/radio/insert tactic here?
Yes. Broadcast advertising pushes messages out to a broad audience. Influencer Marketing can help your message circulate faster as long as it is relevant enough for the Influencer to repeat to others. Influencer Marketing may not replace traditional brand efforts; it can be used to complement existing campaigns.
How do you measure results?
When we worked at beverage companies, the number one objective we had was delivering a return on investment for all marketing efforts. We have several case studies where we can show you solid returns that you can even calculate for yourself.We always look at profitable volume as the ultimate return on investment, however, we’ll work with you, your third party vendor or in-house research department to put in place quantitative and qualitative metrics and defined goals such as:
- Sales tracking, including sell-in, velocity and margin
- Contact/referral tracking including offer redemption
- Cost per acquisition, cost per activity and cost per impression
- Sales conversion rates
- Media impressions
- Brand health, attribute shifts and awareness measures
We also monitor in real-time, which allows us to modify tactics on an ongoing basis as needed.
What makes Fizz different?
- We only work for beverage clients
- Our pre-existing Influencer Marketing network
- Previous success in harnessing word-of-mouth
- Measurement services
How do we do it?
We work in four distinct stages; Focus, Design, Delivery and Report. Each is outlined below. Our process is designed to be modular, so if you have already completed one of our steps, we’re ready to seamlessly meet your needs without having to charge you for work that you have already done.
Focus: Planning Stage
The purpose of this is to familiarize Fizz with all current business plans and information regarding brand(s). Then Fizz facilitates a meeting or series of calls based on a set of questions designed to elicit spontaneous conversation.
The purpose of this stage is to also understand what every brand audience group is feeling about a specific product/brand. Amongst the audiences and various meetings, a format that Fizz uses to elicit information is much like a “chat”. Based on the findings, we prepare a Brand Brief to act as a backgrounder informing the Fizz creative team.
Design: Campaign Development Stage
The Fizz team gathers for an efficient free-form session that honors all ideas. As the session progresses, there is a natural, organic shape that quickly gels to form a roadmap for the Campaign. That roadmap is also a result of our unique methodology, which allows for the development of a brand story over multiple audiences. Overarching strategic questions include:
- What story can be told about the brand?
- What outcome do we seek as a result of our interaction with the target?
- What are the messages we will convey to support that outcome?
- What is the most effective way of delivering those messages?
- How the targets should feel and what they think or what action they should feel compelled to take after hearing the story?
Fizz delivers the results of the internal creative sessions to the client in the form of a Formula. This is a high level outline divided into specific sections that represent the key components of a Campaign. The Formula will include:
- Campaign Overview – product identity; dates; # of team members
- Product Description
- Campaign Goals
- Targets
- The key messages
- Facts, Stories, Triggers [supporting messages]
- Suggested Activities
- Recruitment process
- Composition of Formula Kit
- Ideas for back end rewards and/or incentives
Delivery: Execution Stage Many events are triggered when Fizz launches a Campaign. Fizz communicates with Influencers, sends out Formula Kits, the message starts spreading, performance measures are received and the Client receives Reports. The major components of a Campaign are:
- The Formula Kit – This is a vehicle serving numerous functions. It educates all involved in the Campaign about your brand and trains them to be effective in their activities; it employs the reciprocity theory to Influencers to be active participants in the Campaign; and it provides affirmation to the Influencer that they are appreciated; that the Campaign is “real”, and worthy of commitment. The Formula Kit may be delivered in many forms, such as a tactile, personalized, direct mail piece or an electronic version over e-mail or on a website.
- Activities – One-to-one communication happens naturally. It happens everyday. We all do it. For each Campaign we develop Activities that Influencers may perform. These are designed to accommodate and fit comfortably into the lifestyle of the target audiences. Activities are only suggestions, thinking “outside the box” is encouraged by all so that Influencers can do what comes naturally.
Report: Reporting Stage
- Daily Two-Way Communications
One of the things that sets Fizz apart from other agencies is the daily communication we have with our Influencers. The program is designed to be a continuous feedback loop. Each Report (instance of Activities reported by an Influencer) is reviewed independently and replied to individually by a Fizz Client Partner, with feedback about the report, the effectiveness of the Activity and further training advice. - Detailed Measurement
In addition, each report is measured for report quality, effectiveness of Activity, potential influence, credibility, the number of interactions, and the quality of the target. A check and balance process occurs by having at least two Fizz staff members and a Client Partner review each report before comments are sent back to the Influencer. - Training and Trust
The benefits of our one-on-one approach are enormous. Influencers value the comments the Fizz Communications staff offers and a relationship of trust is quickly built. The staff provides constructive criticism and helps train the Influencers to be more effective in their activities. Influencers also contact Fizz daily via email, instant messaging, telephone, and mail. - Real Time Updates
Other communications initiatives include Campaign updates, informal polling opportunities and spotlights of great reports or new effective activities, etc.
During the Campaign, Fizz provides Clients with a weekly update of their Campaign. This includes some basic metrics as well as individual reports received. When a Campaign is over, Fizz prepares a report summarizing the entire Campaign results and includes an analysis of the data collected.
The report consists of two sections:
- Quantitative Analysis
This provides Campaign metrics including the location and quantity of Influencers and their Activities, the projected exponential penetration into communities, and polling and survey results. The metrics are analyzed to assess how individuals received certain messages, which activities are most effective, product awareness and perception changes. Results often include specific information about Campaign goals and changes to previous measured sales or activity patterns. - Qualitative Analysis
This is the complete set of reports received. Specific sections or notable data is highlighted. Clients often use these to determine the exact nature of consumer’s communications about their product or service. Often these reports hold the key to understanding what people say and how people respond to marketing messages.
Why is WOMM right for you?
Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) is right for your beverage brand if your beverage brand have a good story that once people learn it, they will want to share it with others? WOMM is especially effective when it comes to newer brands, challenger brands, brands that could create a whole new beverage category and brands with a great deal of latent equity.
Fizz Bios
Ted Wright
The founder of Fizz, Ted has been at the forefront of Word of Mouth Marketing since its inception as a discipline. Ted has built an experienced team at Fizz dedicated to the singular proposition of “Selling more client beverage more often to more people.”. Ted and his team has been honored for their Word of Mouth work with a variety of industry awards and speaking requests. A 15 year veteran of beverage marketing and an alumni of Booz Allen & Hamilton, Ted also holds an MBA with honors from The University of Chicago.
Lance Gentry
“Marketing genius” and “great guy” are the two phrases that come up time and again when people describe Lance Gentry. The marketing guru behind Izze Soda, Lance lives successful Word of Mouth Marketing every day. Brilliant in both program concepting and execution, Lance works with Fizz as a Strategic Partner leading efforts for Fizz’s clients across all markets and channels. Lance’s experience with start ups has exposed him to aspects of the beverage business from production to Influencer marketing, making him the Fizz staff member clients have come to rely on for marketing programs that hit all the marks.
Elizabeth Karp
Elizabeth Karp is the Creative Director at Fizz. An accomplished painter published author, Elizabeth is also a world class commercial artist Elizabeth who worked with a variety of clients such as Georgia-Pacific/Dixie Food, Urban Outfitters and the Boston Opera before joining Fizz.
With her trusty BFA from Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia Elizabeth leads Fizz’s staff of in house creative talent as well as a variety of talented individuals with specialized skills that Fizz can call on when client needs dictate.
Elizabeth resides in Atlanta, GA with her husband Ben and their son.
Anna Stroble
Anna Stroble is a Senior Vice President at Fizz with responsibilities in Consumer Insights and Strategy. A PhD psychologist, Anna is Fizz’s in-house expert in all matters relating to consumer behavior and how to maximize the effect of every marketing dollar spent by a Fizz client. Anna also leads all aspects of the “Fizz Corp”, our proprietary membership club of beverage Influencers around the globe.
Anna also brings an extensive background in the marketing of wine in the United States having worked with a variety of vineyards as well as being one of the key influences to the founding of America’s most successful group of wine bars.
Tyson Yirak
Tyson Yirak is the Director of Operations at Fizz. Years of experience running national on-premise programs for some of the leaders in the beverage alcohol industry has allowed him to build up a network of servers, bartenders, venue owners and patrons which is second to none in the industry. From brand launches to continuing programs spanning years, Tyson has executed some of the most effective on-premise programs to ever be launched in the beverage industry.
Tyson holds a BA from Xavier University and is an accomplished armature golfer.
Allison Donald
Allison is the Office Manager at Fizz and the person to know if you really want something done right. A joy to everyone she comes into contact with, Allison holds a BA from Georgia State and is currently pursuing a Masters in Literature at Emory University.
