Branding is a long-term commitment – And it’s not easy

By Ted Wright

By Ted Wright I don’t think there is any question that in this information-dense world, branding is more important than ever. You always have to be thinking about continuously building your brand. And It’s harder than ever now. It’s more expensive. It takes more time. Everybody wants growth quarter after quarter after quarter. You’re never […]


Influencers – Buy their time, not their mind

By Ted Wright

Just a quick note. If you must use an “influencer,” approach the relationship by seeking to buy their time not their mind. The more requirements you put on them (i.e. # of posts, length of video, etc) the more you make the relationship about the contract and not the partnership. As my good friend Chrissy, […]


What is the link between online and offline conversations?

By Ted Wright

By Ted Wright We are so immersed in the digital world that it’s easy to assume that it is a mirror image of society – the same conversations must be taking place online versus offline. But a new study confirms what word of mouth marketers have known all along – the two channels must be […]


The skills I look for in word of mouth marketing talent

By Ted Wright

By Ted Wright The most important thing we do at Fizz is finding ways to transmit customer stories in authentic, interesting, and relevant ways. And while the “what” behind the story is essential, the “who” in the delivery of that story is also critical to our success. So an essential part of our job is […]


A word of mouth marketing success that made me go “WOW!”

By Ted Wright

By Ted Wright I’ve been immersed in the world of word of mouth marketing for more than 20 years. I’ve had a hand in many well-known case studies including Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, Intel Inside, Fireball and AT&T’s move from 3G to 4G. But the one that really made me say “wow” was a project […]


How Big is Your Ranch?

By Ted Wright

  By Ted Wright I’m often asked was asked if there were any product categories that don’t really lend themselves to Word of Mouth Marketing. In our 20 years of focus on WOMM, we’ve found three notable ones that are the most difficult — personal finance, death, and erectile dysfunction. And all of those things […]


Word of mouth marketing and the value of swag

By Ted Wright

By Ted Wright One of the most all-time most popular marketing ideas is swag – you know those little gifts you hand out at a trade show booth, customer meeting, or industry conference. Today I’m going to save you a lot of time and money by telling you the truth about the value of swag […]


We’ve been very successful. Is word of mouth marketing necessary?

By Fizz

By Scott Jenson No, WOMM isn’t necessary for your brand or product to be wildly successful, but Word of Mouth is. Revisionist marketers who are in tune with modern consumer behavior understand that the greatest multiplier for brand awareness and equity is engaging advocates to tell your story, and ensuring that they have the story […]


Fyre Fest and the evolution of social media “Influencer”

By Fizz

By Scott Jenson We’ve all heard the stories by now. A young entrepreneur named Billy McFarland planned on throwing the world’s most glamorous music festival on a private island in the Bahamas. The Fyre Festival was introduced to the world through videos and still shots of beautiful Instagram models and “influencers,” and a simple orange […]


A favorite word of mouth marketing case study: Tito’s Handmade Vodka

By Ted Wright

By Ted Wright I love studying how word of mouth works in our world and one of my favorite case studies is Tito’s Handmade Vodka. It’s a brand that was created from the start by its ability to ignite conversations. What I love about the founder, Tito Beveridge, is that he recognized the importance of […]


DIY WOMM? Sure.

By Ted Wright

By Scott Jenson I sell (insert thing here), how can I use WOMM to sell more stuff to more people? The easy answer is to hire our team of professional Word of Mouth Marketers at Fizz, we’ve created a proprietary system that determines what is unique about your brand and we’re pretty good at doing […]


Fizz has joined the Marketing Rebellion

By Ted Wright

By Ted Wright My friend Mark Schaefer has written an epic book called Marketing Rebellion: The Most Human Company Wins. You should go buy it. Once you buy it, you will want to thank me, but there is really no need to thank me. Any way, Mark sets forth a visionary manifesto of the future […]


Co-creating the word of mouth marketing agency relationship

By Ted Wright

By Ted Wright The best client/agency relationships start with the client doing enough research to know what an agency does and what they are great it then making sure that matches corporate goals and culture. So many times brands think that the word of mouth marketing agency relationship should be determined alone. It’s the very […]


Influencers who take short-cuts should raise red flags

By Ted Wright

By Ted Wright On a long trip to Oman I had a chance to catch up with the news and read about the college entry scandal. An article by Ashely Reece chronicled the social media journey of influencer Olivia Jade Giannulli, daughter of actress Lori Laughlin. A few findings: Red flags Olivia was already the […]


Why Word of Mouth Marketing is like discovering Pluto

By Ted Wright

By Ted Wright Today is the birthday of Pluto and I thought it would be fun to explain why the foundational principles of word of mouth marketing are exactly like discovering a planet. Not the Disney dog, although he is sort of cool too. The existence of an unknown ninth planet was first proposed by […]


Why is Word of Mouth Marketing important right now?

By Ted Wright

By Scott Jenson In 2018, I fulfilled a lifelong dream, visiting Egypt. Ever since I was a child I have been fascinated by the pyramids and stories of pharaonic times. This being a trip some years in the making I planned it well. Hours spent researching on the internet, finding the right guest houses to […]


Word of mouth marketing failures: The two fatal flaws

By Ted Wright

By Ted Wright Many companies try to create word of mouth marketing efforts on their own, and they should. As I describe in my book, Fizz, with focus, discipline and a little practice, a word of mouth marketing strategy is within reach of almost any business willing to commit to the effort. But when WOMM […]


For an effective word of mouth marketing story, accuracy helps

By Ted Wright

By Ted Wright For a story to be shared widely by brand advocates (aka “real Influencers”) the experience that the advocate has with the brand has to match the story. The following is an example of when that doesn’t happen: Story: Adidas is taking plastic waste, hand-harvested from ocean trash, melting it down then spinning […]


Marketing Strategy or Halloween Costume?

By Ted Wright

By Ted Wright It’s official, Influencer Marketing is dead. When Urban Outfitters makes fun of the marketing strategy you sold just six months ago as “The NEW New Thing,” you have problems. Debate me in the comments if you’d like, but I don’t want to be the person on stage when the SVP of Marketing […]


Inquiring minds want to know: What is My Brand’s Story?

By Ted Wright

  By Ted Wright A question I get asked often is “What is my brand’s story?” Let’s talk about that. When I look at most brand stories that companies are putting out there, I feel they often look more like mission statements than stories. We  once had a client whose brand story ran almost 1,300 […]


Six Marketing Lessons You Can Learn From #SaveSweetBriar

By Ted Wright

By Ted Wright The mission of Sweet Briar College is to empower and educate young women to build and reshape their world wherever their passions lead them. If you’re unfamiliar with the most current chapter of their story, here it is. On March 3, 2015 the board of directors of Sweet Briar College, an all […]


Dang, that boy is purple

By Ted Wright

The short story is that Seth is going on a speaking tour and the ticket company he chose to work with this time charged what Seth felt was an excessive amount. Seth took matters into his own hands and refunded the money to folks. What is interesting to me is how consistently “purple” Seth is […]


Look mom, Seth Godin

By Ted Wright

Fizz hosted a Linchpin meeting this summer in Atlanta. Our getting to know you activity was to make Seth Godin masks then take pictures of ourselves. Here are the funnest. We are all looking forward to Seth’s upcoming speaking gig in Atlanta.


The $50,000,000 port in a storm?

By Ted Wright

So I was watching the movie 2012 the other day. The plot of this movie is that, except for Africa, the habitable parts of the world are destroyed by the chaos of a natural disaster. The heroes of the movie and a bunch of rich and powerful people ride on an ark to Africa and live […]


What’s the Origin of the Phrase “Dive Bar”?

By Ted Wright

 Roxanne Webber published a cool answer to this question on Chow today. Turns out that the “dive” in “dive bar” comes from where the entrance to the bar was located. When kitchens turned from wood fire to gas or coal the huge kitchens with their massive wood fired ovens were “downsized” creating large spaces under […]