It's safe to say that I'm the first reviewer who isn't a BzzAgent, therefore I won't comment on the fad without having experienced it first hand. After all, I'm here to review the book, not the company - although I find both to be one and the same. By this, I mean that Dave Balter (founder of BzzAgent and author of The Word of Mouth Manual Vol. II) has written a profound lie. This isn't a terrible thing, given that his profession claims to redefine marketing. The easy misstep with the book is to confuse marketing with advertising. Semantically speaking, Balter may get away with a new way to market the product development portion of marketing, but this doesn't add to product popularity through advertising. In his clever writing that teems with play-on words, Balter intentionally confuses marketing as product development with marketing as spreading the word (hence the term word of mouth). This doesn't redefine marketing, rather it simply attempts to sell his service through the gimmick of clever writing; such as with his futile example of the Tickle-Me-Elmo doll.
"Things turned ugly very fast. The last doll in stock, as fate would have it, was in the hands of a befuddled store employee. The rabid mob attacked him, knocked him to the floor, and wrestled the doll out of his grip. The poor guy suffered broken ribs and a concussion (not to mention a case of severely wounded pride)."
Balter's absolute truths (phrases such as "we all know") are unfounded admissions preying on the social media zealot who may well find the word of mouth strategy appealing.
"[Tyco] had spent millions on promoting the $30 doll. Certainly their efforts helped fuel initial customer demand. But we all know that marketing is not what drove parents to pay black market prices of $1,500 or more to get their hands on a red plush creature that giggles when you poke it."
Do we all know? Or does Balter pretend to know and charge $45 for it? Marketing may not have driven parents to pay $1,500 dollars (parents who could afford it), but it did make it a popular product whose stock, once depleted after a viral marketing campaign, became even more coveted.
Balter is clever to counteract his points with the hope of disguising them as conversational and then quickly changing topic.
"But even in the instances of pure word of mouth, marketing still plays a vital role. Tickle Me Elmo could not have been such a huge hit without the packaging...But even with all that effort and attention, 99.999% of you will never achieve pure word of mouth."
In that paragraph of seemingly conflicting sentences Balter reveals the essence of the book: Marketing plays a vital role and word of mouth is unlikely to succeed without it. How then can one harness Word of Mouth's true potential? Why, BzzAgent, of course.
There are entire sections devoted to BzzAgent that cover everything from biography to a fool-proof structure of why it works - all of this without offering a single study or reference and without indexing a citation (unless you count "One research study in the United Kingdom suggests that a word of mouth dialogue is 1,000 times more powerful than a standard ad impression" as a credible source).
The book does not disclose personal data such as BzzAgent demographics, statistical analysis, or in-depth research on how to utilize "Word of Mouth". Indeed the marketing trick is titling the book a Manual. It is not a Manual, rather a collection of quirky drivel.
The reason for this is because it's probably difficult to quantify word of mouth other than with what Balter's Agents decide to put in their reports after having reviewed a free sample.
BzzAgent has a simple structure according to the book. An aspiring Agent joins, completes surveys that qualify him/her as dependable and receives free products, which he/she then tests, asks close contacts about and submits a "long & detailed" report on. BzzAgent then accumulates these reviews and sells its information to its clients (the product developers).
The definition of Word of Mouth is "informal oral communication." This does not describe BzzAgent, which is a commercialization of Free Sample Inspection. Word of Mouth marketing potential drastically depends on how many free samples the developer releases as opposed to how many of the sample recipients/reviewers pass the word on.
Is the mass review of products by real-world consumers beneficial to product development? There's no doubt that it is. But, this isn't marketing, certainly not by word of mouth. BzzAgent is a product development company that trades free samples to consumers in return for an obligatory review.
If you find yourself with a free PDF version of this $45 mis-titled, self-indulgent expose, or find it at a bookstore - read pages 86-89 before doing anything else. In them is an essay titled "The Tiny Little Alligator That Roared" with which Balter exemplifies how Lacoste used Word of Mouth to revive its campaign.
...the only problem is that it didn't. After a brief biography of the polo maker, Balter concludes with a "and that's how they did it" type of finale. If someone could find in those three pages how Lacoste successfully used word of mouth, please comment on this review and fill me in.
In reality Lacoste reinvented itself by redesigning clothes to fit in a tighter, sexier way. Love stories on tv ad campaigns between French tennis man Arnaud Clement and the Danish singer Natasha Thomas were pricey. In 2006, Lacoste had its annual fashion unveiling in New York instead of Paris in order to reach a sportier yet pedestrian look - attracting stars like Kanye West. In 2010 alone, Lacoste spent $7.5 million in advertising.
It's also true that this year, 80 people wearing red Lacoste polos will hand out $50 gift certificates in NY. Given that last season's polo is $59.95 at Macy's, what Lacoste is doing by giving out a limited number of $50 gift certificates (a word of mouth marketing attempt) is offering a discount on their polo. Though the shirt may be nice, even by word of mouth, the gift card doesn't market its affordability. Overpriced? Underpriced? That's for the individual consumer to decide - or for companies that employ individual consumers, like BzzAgent.
What makes Lacoste a sought after product isn't simply the quality of the material - spun by adolescent Thai seamstresses - no, it is the marketing campaign that makes it an expensive, elitist polo at $150. Most consumers buy last season's stuff at $59.95 for a chance to look like the few who can afford the entire collection of $150 polos. Lacoste has yet to join BzzAgent for word of mouth marketing. Maybe because it realizes that not much good can come from giving out free polos to people that can't afford them this holiday season. Seems like a company that understands its demographic.
In short, The Word of Mouth Manual Vol II, isn't a manual, a technique, a structured argument or even a plausible advertising tool. It is an attempt to get people to buy a $45, self-published, self-promoting rant and/or to recruit more BzzAgents.
By the end of this book, one has little understanding of Word of Mouth, and even far less grasp of how it's been utilized and how it can be harnessed to market product beyond corporate development. It is marketing at its finest. It sells something useless at a very high price.
P.S.
If you can't find the book for free and aren't sure about purchasing it, reference the YouTube video "Buzz Agent" (it is the first result after a "buzz agent" search and is an interview with a former Agent). Before watching, conceive a definition for "word of mouth marketing". After watching, ask yourself whether or not BzzAgent is a marketing tool to spread the word or a product review company. You'll most likely find yourself thinking the latter, since that's BzzAgent's only guaranteed service.
