The first agency to partner with BzzAgent in the initiative will be Arnold, which will use the channel to promote a product sampling campaign for Hershey Foods next month. Arnold's campaign will incorporate broadcast, online, and word-of-mouth marketing.
The service allows agency partners like Arnold to access BzzAgent's management and tracking platform directly, as well as control over the creative message--aiming to create a system where word-of-mouth can be bought and managed similar to online or broadcast advertisements.
BzzAgent also announced an agency partnership with Starcom MediaVest Group's word-of-mouth unit, Reverb division. BzzAgent did not disclose what campaign the agency would be promoting via its channel.
In the past year, word-of-mouth marketers have increasingly attempted to gain mainstream acceptance. In July 2005, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, of which BzzAgent is a founding member, released a "terminology framework"--a set of terms aiming to codify terms that can be used to measure and track word-of-mouth advertising. And in February 2005, that organization released an ethics code, which rejected so-called "stealth marketing," and advocated transparency in word-of-mouth campaigns.