Because of my wonderful post on a Chia Pet word of mouth campaign I had the chance to attend the CMA’s Mass to Grass Conference on Word of Mouth Marketing. If you aren’t sure what Word of Mouth (WOM) is, check out the opening remarks from the conference on Buzz Canuck (Sean Moffit was the Conference Chair). 

What did I learn this year at the conference?

Last year I attended as a bit of a newbie to the whole WOM marketing effort. At Cuisinart, we had just started working with Urbanmoms.ca on a Online/Offline word of mouth program and I wanted to see what other companies were doing, how they were measuring their efforts and what successes they were having. Last year the conference was filled with WOM campaign case studies; short term programs put on my companies to generate word of mouth. I recall a Vespa program that set up “scenes” in front of packed bars and in the middle of Film Festival with their cute little bikes, a bizarre Evian WOM campaign where they opened a Spa in Yorkville for a week and of course we heard from the Paperclip guy who traded a paperclip for a house.

This year, I felt the conference revolved around more companies that were using WOM as long-term strategy, and as a company wide initiative rather than a short four week campaign.  Companies seem to be recognizing that conversation could start from anything that a company does not just a quirky video, event or online program.  WOM needs to be looked at more broadly, something that could start from HR, Customer service and from employees, shareholders and customers.

WestJet

The first speaker, Richard Bartrem, the Vice-President of Culture and Communication (yes, that is his actual title) for WestJet, set the tone for the conference by showing how WestJet was encouraging WOM through employee empowerment and engagement.  You have heard the Westjet commercials because we are “Westjet Owners” - well it turns out that is more than just advertising - it is how they run the business.

Bartrem made me want to work at WestJet (just kidding to my husband who works for Air Canada and to my colleagues!) So what is Westjet doing differently?

Everything. I wrote three pages of notes!

• Language - They recognize that what we call something or someone affects how we treat them or react to the situation. WestJet has a “People Department” not Human Resources, they have “Team Leaders” not Supervisors, they make Promises rather than Policies, and passengers are Guests.
• 83% of staff are owners of WestJet through an employee purchase plan.  Staff are encouraged and given the ability to make decisions on the job within the WestJet values (which each employee carries with them!).
• Loose & Tight- Some rules are tight (safety) and others are loose (most everything else) So staff can use their own judgement in any situation that might come up.
• Staff are thanked and given kudos for a job well done.
• Stories where staff made decisions in difficult situations and succeeded are shared throughout the company, with new hires, and as corporate “stories”.  Bartrum shared a ton of them with us- from a staff who took his day off to fly a Pug to Newfoundland for a passenger, to a staff member in Moncton who went out of her way to make an autistic child comfortable on a flight after another carrier had booted the child and his mother off a flight for disturbing other passengers.
• Culture —leads to —-Great Guest Experience—–leads to —– Results
• All employees pitch in the clean the planes when they land, head office staff work at the airport chucking baggage on the ramp during the peak travel periods…
• Any employee can speak on behalf of the company, and are given the tools to do so.

And what does WestJet get for this employee empowerment and engagement? How about 5,000+ positive letters a year, incredible word of mouth, and positive blog posts like this one and this one on Dave Fleet’s blog.

Mabel’s Labels

From the big corporation to the small business started in a basement - companies showed us that word of mouth can be created organically.  Julie Cole and Tricia Mumby started Mabel’s Labels in their basement, but today they have a real office, 12 employees and manufacturing. How? Through amazing customer service, giving their customers and brand advocates the tools to spread word of mouth, and by then thanking their best customers with perks and freebies.  Watch for my Monday Mini on Customer Service for more about Mabel’s Labels.

This post only covers part of the conference. I hope to write another shortly on the Closing Keynote - Douglas Rushkoff- shortly.