• Brandweek, Tuesday, October 3, 2006 12:15 PM

Many of the most successful interactions of word-of-mouth agents occur in-store with strangers, according to a white paper from the Keller Fay Group, a New Brunswick, N.J. research firm. "We all have that experience where you turn to the person next to you and ask: 'What do you think?'" says Jon Berry, Keller Fay senior vice president. "It has to be a two-way engagement." When approaching strangers, though, it's important that agents identify their affiliation. Other hotspots for the most active w-o-m agents included work, social gatherings, restaurants/bars, school, and during travel.

The report also claims that the most successful agents are more likely to use multiple forms to communicate, including e-mail, instant messaging, blogging and the phone. Keller Fay worked with the Boston-based BzzAgent--which claims 220,000 agents--and clients, including Hershey and Purina, on the report. "The More, the Better" was based on interviews in June with 3,235 agents who receive points for achieving certain goals that can then be traded in for gifts. A big focus in the word-of-mouth world is finding a standard to measure ROI. The Chicago-based Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association plans to address that issue with a symposium in Washington in December.

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