Sign in to view
member only content

Put yourself in your consumer’s shoes: you’re walking down the supermarket aisles, kids are screaming, time is tight and you’ve got a long list to get through—is it any wonder you just stick to buying the same things week after week? Now imagine instead that you’ve had a chance to sample some of the new products out there in a relaxed setting, without any pressure to buy. Chances are, you’ll make some new finds that will improve your weekly menu. Australian Word of Mouth was launched in 2005 in the hopes of helping busy mothers make that second scenario a reality. The company is paid by participating consumer product companies to stimulate conversations about their brands and systematically collect feedback once consumers have tried their products. To do that, it makes presentations by invitation into established social and community groups—churches, school committees, etc.—with information about new products on the supermarket shelves. The presentations are given at no charge, and participants get a chance to try the products out themselves in a relaxed environment. Afterwards, Word of Mouth follows up with a survey to collect their feedback. It also invites participants to continue the conversation online by joining the Word of Mouth Club, which offers competitions, recipes and forums as well as product news; a classified section is coming soon. The result? Word of Mouth meets and stimulates product conversation among more than 200,000 Australian women each year; since the October launch of its Word of Mouth Club, more than 20,000 members have joined. Word of Mouth currently offers its social tryvertising services just in Australia, but it hopes to expand in the near future, Foster says. The concept isn’t entirely new, of course—other buzz marketing agencies have been working this field for years—but as traditional advertising continues to make room for other types of promotion, there’s still plenty of room for innovative niche players. (Related: The perks of product testing and Nationwide tryvertising parties.) Spotted by: Emma Crameri