Having done quite a bit of cross-media, behavorial brand research it’s no surprise (and plain common sense) that most people will tell you..  if you want to really impact your brand’s standing with people and get them to buy, you need to get them talking.  Talking to one another about your brand, your service, your name and better yet fostering people to become those dream customers everyone pines for: “brand advocates”.

So of course as blogging took off, and the web became more conversational, “word-of-mouth” marketing became a hot topic.  Track blogs!  Harness the power of influential consumers!  Drive traffic!  Respond quickly to your brand critics!  It’s hard to argue that this is not an enticing thought, and blogger advocates as well as brand police over the web (e.g. the AOL Customer Service debacle, Flaming Sony Batteries, etc) have led many down the path to put actionable WOM strategies and monitoring into practice.  Heck, the snail like Neilson/Arbitron went as far as to buy a WOM tracking and technology company - moving much more quickly into this space than other emerging mediums it’s considered in the past.

But there’s something that’s always bugged me about many of these companies… too many of them seem disengenious.  Promising alot, creating hype, and selling hard.  Even the most ingenious WOM pioneers, legitimate strategic thinkers, and honest business leaders in this space felt a bit Tony Robbins-like to some.  Others, though equally as transparent and legit, felt too much like a self interested pyramid scheme.  The Edelman/Wal-Mart flog debacle didn’t help the discipline either.

Trumping them all …. enter Subvert and Profit, a site that was discovered by a co-worker that’s spurring commentary and debate here at the office.  To be fair comparing this “game the system” play on social marketing fraud isn’t a perfect parallel to my WOM marketing concerns.   It’s much more shady, and turns the stomach.   But at the same time, I’m somewhat intrigued by it.  It’s boldly and blatently upfront about the game it plays.  Doesn’t give alot of details, but there’s no flowery language around what its about. 

Though it’s sure to be short lived, maybe WOMers might take note of this extreme example.  Out with your tactics, and your intention, and be transparent.  Else, you’re just another one of the shady snake-oil salesman, spammers, and gamers.  And perhaps if you are going to game people, bring them in to the system enough to let them know there’s a game being played, even if you don’t intend to reveal all the cards in your hand.