Ted Wright offers us a new way of conceptualizing word-of-mouth conversations and discusses what it means to harness and guide those conversations in support of your brand.

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Like Levi Strauss himself I am not going to take sides as all are worthy but I will be selling “Team Spike” and “Team Armano” shirts at the WOMMA meeting next week. Of course, Fizz will be taking the proceeds of the t-shirt sales and using it as seed money to produce the Jones v. Armano cage match scheduled as the prime time keynote at the School of WOM event this spring. I mean we haven’t had a fight with this much potential since the much ballyhooed Keller v. Watts Texas Bullwhip Match of 2007. See you all in the squared circle.

To get your pre-fight background, click on http://womma.org/word/2010/11/12/salvo-a-response-to-the-anatomy-of-a-movement/

Client side CMO – Bev alch, leader in their category. Chairman of the company has asked us if we know any “incredibly capable, non conventional, disciplined but out of the box people we would recommend.” If you are reading this than you probably fit that description or know someone who does. Contact Ted Wright directly if you want to know more.

Fizz LA – Looking for two field people. Contract position. 12 month gigs.

Fizz Seattle – Looking for a field person. Contract position. 12 month gig.

Fizz various West Coast locations – Looking for up to four field people. Contract position. 12 month gig.

Fizz West Coast – WOMM hire. Employee. Regional field manager.

Fizz Atlanta – WOMM hire. Employee. Strategy and creative focus.

Fizz Atlanta – WOMM hire. Employee. Sales and client management focus.

Field people need to have between two and five years experience. Experience in beverage, tobacco, automotive, gaming and national tours all pluses.

WOMM applicants get extra points for previous WOMM experience, ability to quote from the WOMM cannon, existing client side contacts and biz dev skills.

As a company, we are impressed by smart and an ability to get things done. We have a very tight team that trusts each other.  We think we have some of the best jobs in American marketing today. We’ll get 2,000 resumes sent to jobs@fizzcorp.com after we post this and probably call 15 people back. If you’re one of those fifteen then thanks in advance for making our day.

How to Blow the Vuvuzela

Thank you to everyone who entered our contest for Best Un-Approvable Beer Name. While we received many excellent entries, we were only able to choose one winner. The Beer Industry Summit ticket was awarded to John Harris and the design team at Battalion Social Design! Here is their winning entry:Thanks again to everyone who entered!

You could win a ticket to the 2010 Beer Industry Summit worth $1100! Simply come up with the best beer name that would never get approved by the Alcohol Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) and you’ll be on your way to one of the largest beer events in the industry!

About the Conference

The conference gathers 500 professionals from the beer industry to the Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa in Phoenix, AZ from February 28th to March 1st to talk about the biggest issues in beer. Join our own Ted Wright as he and a panel of industry veterans talk about how to use word-of-mouth marketing to generate crazy growth rates for your brands! Other major topics of discussion at the Summit include:

• Latino beer drinkers and how to reach them
• Distributor consolidation
• What’s driving craft beer growth…

And much more!

How to Enter

Come up with the best beer brand name that would never get approved by the TTB. Bonus points for sending a mockup label to go with your beer name or doing anything else that we think is funny. Email your entry to BeerSummitContest@fizzcorp.com by Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time (EST) with “Beer Summit Ticket” as the subject line. Yep, it’s that simple.Entries will be judged on the following criteria:

• Humor
• Cleverness in breaking rules
• Unapprovability
• General wit

Entries will be judged solely by the team at Fizz (herein known as “Fizz”). All entry decisions are final and at the sole discretion of Fizz. The winner will be contacted on February 5, 2010 via the email address the entry is submitted with.

Contest Rules (a.k.a. “The Fine Print”)

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. PURCHASE WILL NOT IMPROVE CHANCES OF WINNING.All winners must be 21 years of age or older, unless otherwise stated and/or posted.

1. Entering Contests and Choosing and Contacting Winners

Entrants must send entries using the correct contest entry email address, subject line, and any other specific entry information requested in the contest announcement. Fizz is not responsible for and will not consider incomplete or incorrect entries or emails sent but not received by Fizz for any reason, as potential contest winners.Only one entry per email address used to send the email will be considered for contest entry, unless multiple entries are specifically allowed in the contest posting. Unless otherwise specified in an individual contest post, no person may enter any contest more than once using multiple email addresses.Once a winner is selected and notified, failure to respond by the response date shall mean that the winner forfeits the prize. Fizz is not required to award elsewhere any prizes forfeited by the chosen winner(s).

2. Submission of photo, text or other content for Contests

Entries selected for display and to win “best of” contests and any other contests requiring photo, text or other content from the entrants will be judged entirely at the discretion of Fizz.By submitting any photo or information to Fizz, you hereby grant to Fizz and its affiliates, subsidiaries, licensees and assigns, an irrevocable, perpetual and royalty-free right to use, reproduce, edit, display, transmit, prepare derivative works of, modify, publish and otherwise make use of the submitted photo or other information in any and all media, whether now known or hereinafter created, throughout the world and for any purpose. The rights granted to Fizz include but are not limited to the right to resize, crop, censor, compress, edit, feature, caption, affix logos to, and to otherwise alter or make use of the submitted photo.By submitting any photo or information to Fizz, you hereby represent and warrant that the submitted photo or information does not and shall not infringe on any copyright, any rights of privacy or publicity of any person, or any other right of any third party, and you have the right to grant any and all rights and licenses granted to Fizz herein, including but not limited to all necessary rights under copyright, free and clear of any claims or encumbrances.You acknowledge and agree that Fizz shall have no obligation to post, display or otherwise make publicly available any photo or information submitted by you, and may, in its sole and unfettered discretion, remove, edit, modify or delete any photo or information that you submit to Fizz.You understand and intend that any photo or information submitted by you to Fizz may be available for viewing, rating, review and comment on by the public, and understand that comments or ratings with which you disagree or are unhappy about may be published or otherwise become associated with any photo or information you submit to Fizz. By submitting any photo or information to Fizz, you hereby waive any privacy expectations that you may have with respect to any such photo or information submitted by you to Fizz.You hereby agree to hold Fizz and its affiliates, subsidiaries, licensees sponsors and assigns harmless from and against, and hereby waive any right to pursue, any claims of any nature arising in connection with the inclusion in, publication via or display on any Fizz site, or any other use authorized under these Terms, of any photo or information submitted to Fizz by you.Photos or information submitted by you shall be the property of Fizz, and Fizz shall have no obligation to preserve, return or otherwise make available to you or others any photos or information so submitted.

3. Awarding Prizes

Winners are solely responsible for all taxes and/or fees that may be incurred.Winners may not request substitutions of prize winnings. All winners are solely responsible for any and all taxes and/or fees, and all such additional costs that may be incurred.Fizz, Fizz clients, and employees of Fizz or its clients may not be held liable for any warranty, costs, damage, injury, or any other claims incurred as a result of usage of any winners of a prize once possession has been taken of the product by winner. Fizz is not liable for any loss arising out of or in connection with or resulting from any contest promoted by Fizz.If the specified prize becomes unavailable due to unforeseen circumstances, Fizz may substitute a prize of like or equal value.Management, employees and families of Fizz are prohibited from winning any prizes awarded by Fizz.Fizz reserves the right to alter any rules of any contest at any time.

Director of Digital

You were blogging in college or high school. You think in 140 characters chunks. You can code if you have to. You have a passion for participating in digital communities as well as creating/ sharing multimedia. Where some merely dabble in social media, you are immersed in it, super-connected and show creativity in everything you do.   You’d like to work for a company that thinks meetings suck and sock puppets rock. You are hip enough to get a Monty Python elderberry reference and can talk intelligently about Nudge, Meatball Sundaes, David Weinberger’s latest thoughts and if it matters that Guy Kawasaki actually writes all of those Tweets or pays someone to do it for him. You know the future and you want to work somewhere that has clients that want to go there with you.

What You’ll Do: 

• Create and manage content for all web/social media channels
• Act on behalf of Fizz and Fizz clients within all channels of social media
• Make sure content has been proofed and approved before it’s posted
• Monitor social media channels and develop regular reports for clients
• Identify opportunities/threats in user generated content
• Participate in and mediate conversations taking place within social media
• Stay current on emerging new technologies

Skills & Qualifications You Should Have:

• A passion and understanding of the entire social media universe.
• Excellent writing and communication skills
• Familiarity with best brands in social media
• Ability to juggle multiple projects in a fast paced environment
• Attention to detail
• Ability to work within tight deadlines
• Basic knowledge of photoshop, iMovie, iPhone and iCarley. 
• Basic html skills
• Audio/video skills a plus
• BA or BS in something that is relevant or cool
• Creativity
• Sense of humor
• Enjoy working for a great company

HOW TO APPLY 

Send resume and cover letter to womjob@yahoo.com if you think you’ve got what we are looking for. We are hiring now.

CATAGORY: MOMENTUM – Word of mouth program to juice existing products/services.

TITLE: REFUEL WITH CHOCOLATE MILK

WINNER - BRONZE WOMMIE

The American Dairy Association (ADA) of Ohio wanted to sell more milk. AcrossAmerica, milk consumption had dropped by half since the 1970s and Ohio was no exception. Milk simply had become less and less a part of peoples’ daily lives. It was old-fashioned. There were newer, flashier alternatives. The ADA decided to make a change. Study after study has shown that today’sconsumers are cynical; they just don’t trust commercial messages like they used to. Whatever was to be said had to be “real.” Instead of relying on broadcast media, the ADA turned to word-of-mouth marketing and asked Fizz to help them sell more chocolate milk. So what could be done to revitalize the milk sales? 

The first step for Fizz was to immerse itself in the client’s business. Nine boxes full of almost everything imaginable–posters, T-shirts, presentation materials–arrived at Fizz from the ADA. Within one of the nine boxes wasa study by the University of Indiana. Researchers and nutritionists at Indianafound that chocolate milk, the drink of little kids, was the perfect beverage to drink after strenuous activity. It was, in reality, a better for you, high tech sports drink.

Next, Fizz traveled to Ohio for ethnographic field research. Fizz knew going in that over 65% of Ohioans live in cities under 50,000 people; 22% live in towns under 10,000. During its research process, Fizz discovered that in addition to being the local sports guru, high school football coaches are the de facto source for nutritional and performance information across Ohio. This knowledge dovetailed perfectly with the Indiana research. Few garner such esteem and respect by young adults as “coach.” These men are Influencers across Ohio from small towns to large metro communities. As such, coaches are one of the few groups addressed according to their honorifics (“Coach Smith says…”) by even the most skeptical high school teenagers. The strategy became obvious: Win over the support of the high school football coaches and the rest will follow. 

Fizz and the ADA decided to have conversations with coaches wherethey naturally convene–football clinics. Every year, high school footballcoaches attend intensive training clinics to gain a competitive edge on the field throughout the season. During these sessions, coaches learn and share valuable information to improve their team’s performance. Fizz and the ADA positioned themselves at these clinics to facilitate conversations about chocolate milk. Fizz mailed high school football coaches throughout Ohio with the valuable information they’d found, as well as an invitation to discuss it and to find out more. How does direct mail relate to word of mouth marketing? Coaches are accustomed to receiving poorly executed and cheaply printed marketing material, so Fizz designed interesting luxurious high-end mailers. They were not only cool, they were packed with information about chocolate milk’s benefits. It worked. The coaches were so delighted by these mailers (some brochures “mooed” as they were opened, others used luxe printing techniques)that after reading the information inside, they shared it with their whole staff.  The mailers were so successful at generating conversation among coaches that they brought these mailers with them to the clinics with yellow Post-it note questions attached.

 To drive the message home, Fizz found NFL and MLB alumni and state championship athletes (who we called the “We Won a Ring” gang) who read, digested, and believed in the chocolate milk story. The gang, armed with this remarkable information, attended football clinics across the state interactingwith coaches at all levels. They sent a strong nonverbal message; the bright gold rings these former athletes wear needed no explanation, they tacitly convey that the wearer knows what it takes to win the championships. Some of the noted athletes included Mark Inkrott, 3-year NFL veteran, Pete Shier, former MLB player with the Orioles and the Phillies, and Tyson Yirak, Ohio State basketball champion. Their presence supported the verbal message that chocolate milk is the drink to drink after strenuous physical activity. In fact, many coaches shared their own chocolate milk story (see ADA video)with other coaches.

The message these champions conveyed to the highschool coaches was simple: Chocolate milk is a terrific beverage for their playersto drink after practice and weight training. It is the equal to higher pricednutritional supplements. And, best of all, it can already be found in the highschool cafeteria. The best sports drink has been there all along: it’s chocolatemilk.

Soon after the clinics ended, Fizz followed up by sending members of the “We Won a Ring” gang to the high schools loaded with chocolate milk and a story. The coaches got the message and they passed it along. Chocolate milk sales skyrocketed. Kroger’s chocolate milk sales in the Cincinnati region increased an incredible 475%. That is a Kroger system-wide record for increase in milk sales; Kroger management could not believe so much milk was being sold. In markets across Ohio, milk consumption increased 12-28% YTD as verified by IRI Scandata. This was 10 times the rate of the rest of the country. The sales rise was so dramatic that concerned convenience store owners even contacted the agency staff about chocolate milk’s possible illicit use because of the unprecedented sales to teenage boys (remember “Whipits?”). Of course, they were quickly reassured that that was not the case. 

Even Big Ten colleges got in on the act as their strength and training coaches heard of the power of chocolate milk. They researched it themselves, agreed with our conclusions and started not only using chocolate milk in their own programs, but began spreading the gospel of chocolate milk too! Players at the University of Minnesota, the University of Michigan and the University of Iowa were drinking chocolate milk after workouts. It has become a sports drink phenomenon. ESPN caught wind of this and produced a four-and-a-half minute feature story on the once unassuming beverage for its “College Gameday”program. It sent a camera crew to the University of Washington for the story. Chocolate milk had, tongue-in-cheek, become the football team’s secretweapon. At the end of the feature, Lou Holtz, the famous college coach andcommentator, turned to camera and said, “Had I known this, my kids would have drank chocolate milk.” 

Throughout the entire campaign, the message stayed interesting, relevant, andauthentic. And the results show. Chocolate milk, once the drink of children isnow the refuel source for athletes at every level.

From Beer Business Daily. January 27, 2009 

IS WORD OF MOUTH MARKETING THE NEW KILLER BEER APP?  

Last week we caught up with Ted Wright, who is the managing partner at Atlanta-based Fizz, a word of mouth marketing firm.  Ted has worked on brands from Pabst Blue Ribbon to chocolate milk, and has based his firm on the data showing that mass media is out and viral, word of mouth marketing is in.  Here is a short excerpt of our talk, with a longer piece coming in MBA. 

TED ON FOUR STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL WORD OF MOUTH.  ”Prior to doing this whole thing we said, okay, there’s four steps to this:  focus, design, delivery, and report. Those are the four steps to making a great word of mouth campaign. The first step is “focus”, and that’s really coming up with a story that is interesting, relevant, and authentic. If a story is interesting, relevant and authentic, it will get passed around.  Stories that fail on any of those three points, don’t get shared.  I know everyone’s talking about [Bud Light's] Drinkability these days.  To us, Drinkability is a failure as a marketing campaign, because it is inauthentic. Is Bud Light authentically more drinkable about than any other light beer?  Saying Bud Light has Drinkability is like a Hyundai saying you can drive their cars to work. Duh, it’s a car! Other than the externalities out there, like Lamborghini, I could drive almost any car to work.  The same is true for beer, they all have ‘Drinkability’. People don’t actively share stories that they think are inauthentic. “     

ON THE DEATH OF TV.  ”Our data shows that when a friend shares a story with another friend the listener will go and spend his/her own money to try that product 93 times out of 100.  Television gets someone to buy a specific beverage brand about seven times out of 100. Print is even worse. The C-suite can do the math and this is what is driving them to word of mouth marketing. Dogfish Head and PBR are good beer examples. Tito’s vodka, Izze soda, Monster energy drink and VeeV are other beverage brands that have taken advantage of word of mouth marketing. Tito’s went 1,000 cases a year to about 225,000 cases a year all on word of mouth.   The fact is that the average North American consumer is bombarded with 6,300 commercial messages a day.  That’s just too many so people tune out everything.  When the story outside the bottle matches what’s going inside the bottle, and the story is interesting, relevant and authentic, then the story is shared. Consumers sharing of stories = an increase in brand share.”  

ON PBR’s EARLY SUCCESS.  ”I know that you personally, Harry, keep mentioning retro and PBR. But I would like to tell you that retro has got little, if anything, to do with PBR’s success.  I think the authentic story about PBR is authenticity itself. Let me tell you why.  PBR at a certain point in its life stopped spending money on broadcast advertising. They went about 15 years and did not do much broadcasting at all. Times changed and PBR stayed true to it’s roots. Not because they had some over arching philosophy but because they didn’t spend money on much marketing at all. PBR found many of it’s accounts had been rediscovered by “hipsters” and their salesmen kept doing what they had always been doing, Sansabelt slacks and all.  These bars were now populated by people who grew up and were born in the ’80s and rejected what they saw as a materialistic way of living. They were saying, ‘you guys did all that yuppie stuff, I think that’s not real. I think that’s fake, and I’m going to go and seek those things that are real.’  Since PBR didn’t have any money, by default, all they could do was things that were authentic.  Salesmen went around,  wore their Sansabelt slacks, and they said, “Hey, I really like my beer, you should buy my beer. If you don’t like it, that’s cool too.  That’s how they were selling. So we basically took that ethos of, this is who we are, and we’re going to celebrate things that are authentic.  Brian [Kovalchuk, former Pabst chief] and Neal [Stewart, former PBR brand manager, now at Flying Dog] bought off on this idea, and we all kind of came up with this together.  “We could have gone the ‘red, white and blue’ route, we could have gone ‘Americana’. There was also a whole PBR/trucker hat/retro kind of thing happening. We intentionally did not do the retro thing, because retro is a fad, and celebrating the authentic is a choice.  We want to work with choices not fads.  Brian, Neal and the rest of the team, us included, created a program around the twin ideas of word of mouth marketing and a brand ethos of “authentic”. In was mini-Kiss, low rider bikes, turning washing machines in to beer coolers and Vice magazine parties. Out was anything we deemed inauthentic like Kid Rock or plastic promo girls. We wanted to be involved with anything that people were doing because they liked doing it. By going out there and supporting people that are authentic, and not asking anything of them in return some asked about our brand. The more we shared with them, the more they liked it. Some liked it so much that decided to spread the word like a Baptist preacher in a tent. With a lot of hard work by Pabst staff, agency folk, distributors and fans of PBR the brand has grown into the phenom it is today.”

Thanks to the good folks at BBD for the interest in WOMM and Fizz – ed.