Design Studies: Word Of Mouth Has It..

Over the past week I have been extremely busy to say the least, with ongoing class projects and the associated difficulties. Needless to say, I have not posted for a while as a result. Aside from that, I have also been delayed as there have been conflicting stories on what is actually required for the last of this semesters Design Studies assignments. Below is what I started, but I have decided to in fact use difference sources, for two reasons - one, originally I was lead to believe that we were required to write 1000 words in total for our source (500 on summarising the source, and a further 500 detailing it's link to our chosen topic which was derived from The Tipping Point). This was then to be repeated for a second source. It was then discovered that we were in fact to write 500 per source in terms of summarising, and then a further 500 words pitting each source against each other and exposing any conflicting evidence - thus totalling 1500 words. However, the two original sources I had selected do not work so well for cross analysing so I have decided to alter my selection.

Secondly, CrossSearch - Dundee Universities online journal search, with online reading facility - has decided to crash due to high volumes trying to access it. I guess it's acceptable, given it's the week before the end of semester. Alas, I do not fear as my previous in depth research into my topic has left me with various other alternatives.

Below is the beginning of my original write up, however as stated above it is no longer what I will be continuing with, but I thought I would post it anyway, as a more in depth annotation if you will.

Dellarocas, C. & Narayan, R. (2006). A Statistical Measure of a Population's Propensity to Engage in Post-Purchase Online Word-of-Mouth. Institute of Mathematical Statistics: Statistical Science. Vol 21. (No. 2.). p. 280.

Dellarocas and Narayan provide statistical evidence to support the word of mouth theory by which information regarding an object, service or the like is passed along with added opinions of their success. From this, a reputation occurs, usually either in the form of a recommendation or the opposite - advice to avoid such a item. This can be generated solely from personal opinion; if enough people recommend a product, the general consensus would be that the product is good, and someone with no prior knowledge of it would then consider buying or using such an item as a result.

Viral marketing aims to generate commotion and uproar around a selected object - with the ultimate outcome being that an explosive word of mouth epidemic radiates out from their epicentre of advertising. It relies upon not only an outlandish memorable advert and or performance to kick start such a process, but it long term relies upon the public reacting to the original incident and then passing their experience along, with an accelerating effect. This is where word of mouth statistics are highly crucial, as these must be taken into account when tailoring the perfect viral marketing campaign. It must also appear effortless; as if it was a mishap or accidental broadcast. An example of such forced accidental viral campaign is that of Threshers Christmas discount voucher. They "accidentally" released a "suppliers only" voucher which entitled the user to 40% off. The online leak caused unprecedented circulation for such a small campaign, thus being highly successful.

My "new and improved" summary of:

Hill, S., Provost, F. & Volinsky, C. (2006). Network-Based Marketing: Identifying Likely Adopters Via Consumer Networks. Institute of Mathematical Statistics: Statistical Science. Vol. 21. (No. 2.). p. 256-260.

Godin, S. (2005). Purple Cow. London, UK: Penguin Books. p.7, 31-32, 79-80.

Dorrian, M. & Lucas, G. (2006). Guerrilla Advertising: Unconventional Brand Communication. London, UK: Laurence King Publishing. p.54-101.

Kirkby, J. & Marsden, P. (2006). Connected Marketing: The Viral, Buzz and Word Of Mouth Revolution. Oxford, Great Britain and MA, USA: Butterworth-Heinmann of Elsevier.

will follow shortly.