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

WOMM-U: It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday (and the Day Before Yesterday Too...)

Back from Miami, we've got loads of content we want you to see.

BlogTalkRadio: Loads of interviews, tons of perspectives.
Flickr Photos: WOM + humidity + conversation = great photos.
The Live Blog: WOMM-U by and large, by the by, in summary.
Twitter: Some of our favorites tweets which hit the live board.
WOMMA's New Logo: It's here to stay. WOMMA members, we proudly offer you an exclusive logo to support, and be supported by WOM.

Visit http://womma.org for links to all, and enjoy!
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Victory Day for Ebay in France

This past week, Ebay won a lawsuit in the French courts over sales of fake L'Oréal perfume on its auction site.  A court specialized in trademark law ruled that Ebay was merely a host site for the sales of counterfeit goods and not a party to their sale. The court also said Ebay, which has a $10m a year budget for fighting online crime, was doing all it could to combat fakes. It is the first legal victory in France for Ebay, which has in the past been ordered to pay compensation to Hermes and LVMH for sales of counterfeit products.

The full story from: Financial Times:
http://blogs.ft.com/techblog/2009/05/ebay-wins-french-loreal-fakes-lawsuit/

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WOMMA Announces New Innovative Awards Program

In the current economic climate few things are more important than understanding how to get more bang for your marketing dollars.  The Word of Mouth Marketing Association WOMMY Awards celebrate the very best in effective social media marketing - with real metrics. For creativity we have the Addys; for effectiveness we have the Effies; and for creativity and effectiveness in social media we have the WOMMYs. Now in their fourth year, the awards identify and reward the very best in Word of Mouth Marketing. Previous winners include mega brands like McDonald's, Hewlett Packard and smaller brands like The Shops at Atlas Park.

The full story from: WOMMA:
http://womma.org/email/wommy/

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Yes We Can - Change the World

Citizen journalism, open government, status updates, community building, information sharing, crowdsourcing, and the election of a President. For most of us, social media has changed our lives in some meaningful way. Collectively it is changing the world for good. Given the pace of innovation and adoption, change has become a constant. Every so often we find the need to stop and reflect on its most recent and noteworthy developments, hence the following list of we can change the world.

The full story from: Eco Child's Play:
http://ecochildsplay.com/2009/05/12/10-ways-to-change-the-world-through-social-media/

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Embracing the Social Media Mindset

Has your company embraced the social media mindset?  Many marketers quickly incorporate the social media "toolset" without first understanding the underlying philosophy which drives their use. Companies must first inculcate social media's mindset to experience maximum benefit. It's the same rationale behind why theory courses are taught in college before practical ones. To do otherwise is to put the proverbial cart before the horse.

The full story from: MP Daily Fix:
http://www.mpdailyfix.com/2009/05/seven_social_media_mindset_mar.html

Social Media Works (and We Can Prove It)!
Written by David Rabjohns on May 12th, 2009  11:47 AM CST

In the current economic climate few things are more important than understanding how to get more bang for your marketing dollars.  The Word of Mouth Marketing Association WOMMY Awards celebrate the very best in effective social media marketing - with real metrics.

What are the WOMMY Awards?
For creativity we have the Addys for effectiveness we have the Effies and for creativity and effectiveness in social media we have the WOMMYs.  Now in their fourth year, the awards identify and reward the very best in Word of Mouth Marketing.  Previous winners include megabrands like McDonald's, Hewlett Packard and smaller brands like The Shops at Atlas Park.

What's new this year?
This year there are:
* New categories (now including multinational)
* New Judges (from the top companies)
* New judging criteria (more focus on demonstrating results)
* New Award (sexier.....more desirable).
* New opportunities to be seen:
1) Winners present their cases at the November WOMMA Summit.
2) Top Media (magazines and digital) write about & publish the winners.
3) WOMMA publishes a book of the winners.....proof social media works.

Where do I sign up?
* You can't yet; the full website is available on July 4th at WOMMA.org
* For now, if you pre-register at WOMMA-U can save $200 ($299 for members vs. $499) for the standard fee.  

Simply e-mail Teresa Buescher at Teresa@WOMMA.org or Tweet #wommy to TBUESCHER before 12pm on Thursday May 14th and get your WOMMA-U discount code.