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History of WOMMA

A Brief History of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association

The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) and the industry it represents have grown at an astonishing pace. Few movements in marketing have gone from an idea to a part of daily business so quickly and so successfully. With that in mind, we'll take a few moments to tell the story of how we got here.

The Launch

The Word of Mouth Marketing Association began, appropriately enough, when three industry pioneers began talking to each other about word of mouth.

Dave Balter, Founder and President of BzzAgent and Pete Blackshaw, Chief Marketing Officer of Intelliseek were speaking about word of mouth at an advertising industry event in early 2004 when they began discussing the future of word of mouth.

Interest in the new field was building, but no single, trusted source of information existed that people could access to learn more about word of mouth. The industry was developing a marketing side and a research side. An organization was needed to bring the two disciplines together, to inform marketers about word of mouth, to promote it, and to address major ethical issues.

More troublesome, shady word of mouth practices had begun to emerge something that threatened to darken the industry's future before it even got off the ground. A growing number of stealth marketers that practiced shilling and consumer deception were setting up operations. Legitimate word of mouth marketers needed a vehicle to oppose such practices and promote ethical techniques.

The media and marketers alike were beginning to question where word of mouth was heading. Would it grow to become a major marketing discipline or would its reputation become so tarnished by stealth marketing that people wouldn't trust it and its full potential would never be realized?

Balter and Blackshaw wanted to see word of mouth take its rightful place in the marketing mix. They were joined in this effort and Jonathan Carson, President and Chief Executive Officer of BuzzMetrics. As they talked, they agreed that a word of mouth trade association — an organization that could bring the industry together by focusing on promoting word of mouth, coming up with ways to measure its effectiveness, and building a strong ethical foundation for the new specialty — would foster growth and legitimize word of mouth's existence.

"We believed that if we had a real organization, people in the word of mouth area would rally to the cause of ethical word of mouth," recalls Balter.

By May, the three announced the creation of WOMMA at an Ad:Tech trade show and launched a web site to gather names of potential members. That first one-page WOMMA web site got the marketing and advertising worlds talking about word of mouth. Inquiries began pouring in. The original version, captured in this document, shared an interpretation of a strong industry and a positive vision of a consumer-driven marketing world.

"The cohesiveness that an association could bring to word of mouth was of great potential value to all these companies asking for information," recalls Carson. The founders worked tirelessly in those early days to convert interest into action among companies and individuals who had responded to the web site and among their own business contacts and clients.

Throughout that summer, Balter, Blackshaw, and Carson continued to travel around the country, spreading the word about WOMMA. Their presentation put forward two visions of the future of our industry: One clouded by the taint of stealth marketers, the other a new, more honest form of marketing that becomes the most powerful tool for smart companies.

Building an Organization

In July 2004, the founders met with Andy Sernovitz, soon to become WOMMA's founding CEO, and brought him on board to guide the association. Sernovitz was a well-known marketing expert who had previously run a similar association, the Association for Interactive Marketing, which served a similar pioneering role for internet companies.

Sernovitz's job was to turn WOMMA from an informal collection of visionary marketers into a stable, effective trade association. Over the summer, WOMMA re-incorporated as a 501(c)6 nonprofit organization and Sernovitz began building the infrastructure to enable the Association to take its place with the leading marketing organizations.

By October 2004, WOMMA was formally accepting memberships and Sernovitz joined WOMMA full time, opening the headquarters in Chicago.

Soon, a group of founding member companies stepped forward to put their money where their word of mouth was — they would fund the start-up of the association along with its three creators. The founding group expanded to include: Idil Cakim & Andy Nibley of Burson-Marsteller, David Reis of DEI Worldwide, Bill Mosher of Echopinion!, Rick Murray of Edelman, Marc Schiller of Electric Artists, Bob Troia of FanPimp (now Affinitive), Dan Horowitz of Fleishman-Hillard, Jim Schienman of Friendster, Ed Keller of NOP, Dave Neupert of M80, Amanda van Nuys and Mark Kingdon of Organic, and Ann Moravick of Rowland Communications.

"They really stepped up to the plate early," says Blackshaw of the founding members.

By the end of 2004, WOMMA was clearly here to stay. Memberships were rolling in, and the Association's websites and newsletters became the primary sources of information for the industry. WOMMA became the authoritative association in the field — and the home for the "who's who" of this exciting new profession.

Ethics First

WOMMA faced its first major test that winter — it took on word of mouth ethics. Ethics had been a major issue since the founders first met to discuss the future of the industry. "We were all worried about the shady practitioners and how to clearly separate those guys out from the rest of the industry," recalls Carson.

Blackshaw agrees, recalling, "We needed to be the leaders on the really, really tough issues. I thought we did a good job early on of framing the critical issues." The result was the WOMMA Ethics Code.

"No group like ours had taken on a fight this big, this early," remembers Sernovitz. "Lots of organizations pay lip service to ethics. We bet everything on it — because it was the right thing to do, and because the future of the industry depended on it."

The member-written WOMMA Ethics Code was released on February 9, 2005, taking an unequivocal stance against deceptive and stealth marketing practices. The Code calls for honesty and openness in all WOM marketing, requiring full disclosure for anyone doing word of mouth. The essence of the WOMMA Code comes down to its Honesty ROI:

As the association's founders had anticipated, a strong stand on ethics was exactly what marketers wanted to see in the still-evolving world of word of mouth. With the ethics issues clearly and publicly addressed, WOMMA membership skyrocketed.

The following months were both a triumphant time for word of mouth marketers — and the biggest challenge to WOMMA's survival. Stealth marketers, whose deceptive business practices were threatened by the new code, launched an anticipated all-out assault on WOMMA, its founders, members, and staff. For months, they used the sleaziest of smear campaigns, rumor-mongering, and subversion to try to destroy WOMMA and its Code — before the Code inevitably triumphed. WOMMA won the fight, providing the best demonstration that honest marketing wins over stealth every time.

WOMMA's success was validated by the hundreds of companies who joined WOMMA following the introduction of the Ethics Code. "We did the right thing morally — and the industry came rushing in to support us," Sernovitz recalls. "We did the right thing for the right reasons, not because of pressure from government or activist groups. It is an amazing success for all ethical marketers."

Building an Industry

Under Sernovitz's leadership, WOMMA emerged as a world-class industry association. Before the end of the year, WOMMA had more than 250 member companies, surpassing many established marketing organizations. Sernovitz opened a headquarters office, hired staff, and launched a series of high-value member services. The WOMMA team began the process of building the infrastructure necessary to support a fast-growing association and industry.

During the summer of 2005, WOMMA member activity focused on market research, measurement, and metrics. Members knew that establishing measurable ROI was an essential pre-requisite to guarantee that WOM would be included in budgets, business plans, and media plans. The effort was led by the members of WOMMA's Research and Metrics Council, which included nearly every significant leader in the field.

In an incredible burst of activity, the Research Council:

Beyond research, WOMMA's education efforts continued nonstop to help teach word of mouth marketing best practices to an ever-growing circle of interested executives.

WOMMA's web site, blogs, newsletters, and white papers became the must-read publications for the industry. These were soon supplemented by member-written blogs, podcasts, and more content that shaped the fundamental understanding of this new industry.

WOMMA's conferences were blockbuster successes. In the first year, WOMMA sold out four major events. Of course, they were promoted almost entirely with word of mouth marketing. These intense, original educational events became the de facto gathering place for professionals in the WOM business.

2006 and Beyond

In May 2006, WOMMA held its first election of the Board of Directors. After a slate of candidates was chosen by a member-led Nominating Committee, the election was held, and voting members in good standing were invited to participate. On May 25, the election was concluded and the new Board of Directors was announced. Soon after, the Board held its first meeting and elected an Executive Committee of officers to lead it. (The full list of Board members and Executive Committee can be viewed online.)

The future of WOMMA is in the capable, committed, and enthusiastic hands of our members. We are working to increase member participation and expand member benefits. We are also encouraging members to take advantage of leadership opportunities in the association. WOMMA exists thanks to the generosity and leadership of its members. We will continue to assure that WOMMA takes the high ground in defense of and support of transparency, honesty, and openness — the values that built this great association.

Thanks to the initial commitment of the Board, the founding members, and the new members who continue to join in record numbers, there is no doubt that WOMMA will play an ever-growing and ever more important role in word of mouth marketing — and that word of mouth marketing will take an ever more important role in the world of business.