• by Tom Siebert , December 13, 2006

WASHINGTON, D.C.--The Word of Mouth Marketing Association is going to do everything it can "to make it impossible for stealth marketers to exist. We're going to starve them out of business," promised Andy Sernovitz, outgoing CEO of the organization, at a conference panel yesterday called "Ethics and Disclosure: Safeguards to Protect Your Brand" at the Word of Mouth Marketing Summit & Research Symposium in Washington, D.C.

Sernovitz said it was essential to drum out unethical marketers from the word-of-mouth marketing space before the practice is grouped under a single undesirable term, the way email marketing became spam.

"Nordstroms, The New York Times, porn--you get it on email, it's spam," Sernovitz pointed out. "We don't want that to happen."

To that end, the organization has developed a word-of-mouth ethics toolkit, as well as a 20-question checklist that should be used when an online or offline WOM campaign is in development. Both are available on the WOMMA website.

Gary Spengler, e-Business Leader of Dupont, one of the first companies to adapt the ethics toolkit, gave a quick thumbnail of its contents. "The public holds brands and agencies accountable for ethics, and a brand cannot delegate responsibility to their agency for ethical standards adoption and practice."

He addressed questions about the necessity of a WOM association. Then he defended it by noting that it provides simplification and a single voice--and perhaps most importantly, keeps the practice insulated from government intrusion through self-regulation.

Monday, the FTC rejected a complaint filed by the anti-advertising group Commercial Alert, which urged it to regulate companies engaged in buzz-marketing practices. The government agency's response suggested that self-regulation, thus far, was doing the job.

From a logical business standpoint, Burson-Marsteller's Idil Cakim noted that practicing unethical stealth-marketing techniques in a Web-savvy watchdog age is pointless, saying: "It will be uncovered." She pointed out that there is a financial benefit for being open and ethical, and that 70% of studies show a positive relationship between ethics and corporate performance.

Near the end of the panel, Sernovitz revealed that next week, the association will launch an online community for members, where they will be able to discuss issues facing disciplinary action, including outing marketers that are breaking the rules.

Sernovitz announced Monday that he would end his two-year term as CEO March 31. Washington association vet Susan Tibbitts will replace him.