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Tom Hespos posted today about the Topic: Buzz Marketing Makes No Sense and, it’s generating lots of interest on the Media Post message boards.

My post is provided below to Tom’s post…

Buzz marketing will change the context of product and service recommendations by encouraging individuals to express their own views and voice about a product or service to their own private network of personal contacts.

The power of this model lies with the influence an individual has in an established small network, as well as the strength of the relationship an individual has with an advertiser.

The framework isn’t “new” but I believe for businesses to grow using buzz marketing they must increase the number of customer networks they are engaged in.

Unfortunately, some firms are exploiting the unique economies of scale of buzz marketing by creating artificially-engineered marketing campaigns that are designed to look “natural.” These campaigns fuel opposition and demonstrate the ease with which marketers can abuse buzz marketing to dupe naive individuals into believing almost anything. These campaigns aren’t buzz marketing. Rather, these campaigns are knock-offs or counterfeits to real legitimate marketing dialogs.

The recent Burger King Halloween mask promotion by Crispin Porter + Bogusky appears to be one such disaster that Seth Stevenson covered in Slate.

You can listen to Seth Stevenson’s report on buzz marketing here.

The story is not idle media curiosity. It’s a wake-up call for marketers engaging in word of mouth practices to clean house or face serious ramifications. In fact, perhaps we need a No Tolerance provision for WOMMA members so that we can try to realize the pipe dream behind these exuberant expectations for buzz marketing.

I believe Congressional hearing on the topic are likely to be held next session as Members of Congress jump on board to protect the public good, and address false advertising and deceptive marketing practices by imposing new federal guidelines.

The good news is that businesses are already using buzz marketing tactics to guide interactive sessions as a foundation to establish relationships with product loyalist. Similar to what Matt Reese did with creating grassroots organizations to support political campaigns, public affairs and issue lobbying. I believe we’ll see more businesses start asking for support and reward those customers that support them.

This is the time to rethink marketing – and especially mass marketing – not to repel at the idea of recognizing the interests of individuals and linking them to product and service recommendations.