(This week, PR News editors Phil Hall and Aaron Jenkins discuss word-of-mouth PR and the unlikely results it can generate.)
PHIL: You may not believe this, but one of the most popular characters in the Warner Bros. cartoon canon is Pete Puma. And that is not because Warner Bros.
marketed him to death, the way they promote Bugs and Daffy. Instead, his star came via word-of-mouth PR. Pete Puma appeared in just one cartoon, the 1952 "Rabbit's Kin," yet he
resonated so strongly through the years that there are now a slew of Pete Puma cult pages all over the Net (including one in French!). When the WB Network was being
launched in 1995, they did a poll of colleges to determine which character should be the mascot - and Pete Puma won! He wasn't used, though, because his persona is that of a
spastic villain who kept getting clobbered when Bugs Bunny asked him how many "lumps" he wanted to sugar-up his tea. Still, Pete Puma's cult status is a victory of word-of-mouth
PR despite Warner Bros.' efforts to ignore him.
AARON: Variations of Pete Puma are all around us. Look at stand-up comic Dane Cook, who courted millions of fans through word-of-mouth PR about the ultra savvy Web
site streaming his material. Good word-of-mouth PR is accelerated tenfold with the power of the Internet. But therein lies the vulnerability of word-of-mouth PR. As the Internet
continues its rapid-fire immediacy - evermore so with the blogosphere and Web communities - a rumor that lacks any kernel of truth can potentially snowball into an avalanche of
destruction, thus causing costly damage control for PR professionals.
PHIL: Before the Net, negative word-of-mouth PR spread rapidly. In the 1970s, a certain bubble gum manufacturer ran newspaper ads to squelch the wild word-of-mouth
rumors spread about the alleged presence of spider eggs in its product line. And that's why word-of-mouth is such a tricky avenue. PR professionals cannot steer these campaigns
and usually wind up reacting to them. Too often, they take on a life of their own and stretch into illogical territories where damage to a brand or a reputation can be
lethal.
AARON: And gaining sizable footing in word-of-mouth's slippery slope is possible. In the 1980s, a popular cola company decided to alter its time-tested beverage, which
was perhaps not the most refreshing marketing ploy since the change backfired with its drinkers. But the company saved face by listening to consumers and returned the soft
drink back to its original chemistry. Although negative word-of-mouth runs neck-and-neck with positive PR in this Net Age, communications control enthusiasts are now able more
than ever to be in tune with populist demands and combat such rumors.
PHIL: Of course, that raises the expectation of PR professionals who listen, do proactive research and stay ahead of the curve. But those who don't go that route
inevitably wind up like Pete Puma: Getting plenty of "lumps" for inefficiency.