News of the launch of a specialist standalone word-of-mouth (WOM) agency – Zocalo – has generated some strong reactions.
On the one hand, the WOM specialists are delighted to see their discipline formalised as a distinct communication tool. Others, predominantly from the wider PR world, feel that WOM is but another element to the PR toolbox, and as such, should be integrated rather than artificially ‘siloed’. My personal view leans towards the integration model. History also demonstrates that PR continues to embrace new communication channels, and has moved a million miles on from the original ‘press relations’ definition.
But I am also picking up concerns about the practice of WOM and how to retain its integrity – which it must do if it is remain a powerful and credible method for influencing people. Integrating WOM into the PR mainstream means that PR practitioners who are members of the CIPR – and therefore bound by the Code of Conduct – will ensure that integrity will be integral to the practice of WOM.
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