John Bell, President of WOMMA and head of 360* Digital Influence for Ogilvy PR, recently collected his relevant posts on the issue of best practice disclosure. In anticipation of the FTC's impending guidelines on this issue, he feels that these may be useful to marketers:

Best Practice Disclosure: What Brands Should Do (and Why) 

Best-Practice Disclosure: Let's Start With A "Terms of Engagement"

3 "Watch-outs" About The FTC Guidelines and Blogger Outreach

The Difference between Paid Media, Earned Media and Word of Mouth

Practice Ethical WOM or Else

Fail: Outsourcing Paid Word of Mouth

The New Social Media & WOMM Ethics Challenges #3 - Fake Social Media

Original Post: http://johnbell.typepad.com/weblog/2009/09/best-practice-disclosure-an-index-of-povs.html

Below is a letter from Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) President-elect Paul Rand regarding the recent debate about "sponsored conversations" (either verbal, audio or video based) and the resulting months of lively discussions that insued.

I for one am very satisfied with the final language of the change, as it supports the proper discloure and transparency in any marketing effort that might be otherwise construed as a natural relationship, but also allows a company such as MeHype to continue to participate in this field while also enjoying the privileges of membership in a group such as WOMMA.

Thank you to all WOMMA members that shared their two cents, as well as members of the ethics review board and WOMMA staff. - Tyler LeCompte, Director for MeHype.

Original Post: http://womma.org/ethicsreview/

 

 

 

Dear WOMMA Members,

As many of you are aware, one section of the WOMMA Code of Ethics was re-opened after the requisite three members requested a review. More than 60 members and interested parties commented on whether the statement, “We stand against marketing practices whereby the consumer is paid cash by the manufacturer, supplier or one of their representatives to make recommendations, reviews or endorsements” should be part of the Code.

After much deliberation, there is 100% agreement among the MEAP (Member Ethics Advisory Panel) and the WOMMA Board of Directors to refine this section of the Code of Ethics. The aforementioned statement will be replaced with the following:

We stand against marketing practices whereby the marketer or its representatives provide goods, services or compensation to the consumer to make recommendations, reviews or endorsements without full, meaningful, and prominent disclosure.

A final version of the Code can be found at (http://womma.org/ethics/code/).

While few would disagree with the need for disclosure, there is an increasing industry demand to qualify and provide direction on what constitutes “full, meaningful and prominent” disclosure. If, for example, a consumer is given a product to review he/she must clearly state that in their review. If someone is paid to write a review, that too must be fully, meaningfully, and prominently disclosed.

As part of WOMMA’s ongoing Living Ethics program, we be will launching a “straw man” outline regarding disclosure and asking our members and community to provide input. We will also be conducting a live “disclosure debate” to bring together some of the leading thinkers in the space to help shape what can become an industry-agreed standard regarding the right and best ways to disclose.

The new disclosure guidelines will be formally unveiled at the WOMMA Summit, being held November 18-20 in Las Vegas.

Thank you to all who have participated in this important process. Please post comments/questions here.

Best regards,

Kristen Smith, CAE Executive Director WOMMA p. 312.853.4400 e. kristen@WOMMA.org Twitter @KristenWOMMA

Paul M. Rand WOMMA President-Elect President and CEO Zócalo Group p: 312.596.6272 e: prand@zocalogroup.com Twitter: @paulmrand

John H. Bell WOMMA President Managing Director 360° Digital Influence Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide m: +1 240.462.7596 o: +1 202.729.4166