General Mills Pssst – Word of Mouth Marketing Program
General Mills has launched a word of mouth marketing program where people can sign up to receive free product samples they can use and share with their friends.
The program is called Pssst. Here is the contract they’re asking people to agree to in order to participate:
This is similar to the now-defunct Target Rounders program that compensated college students for saying nice things about Target. However, there is one big difference: Rather than be discrete, they’re asking participants to always mention their affiliation with Pssst when pimping General Mills’ products.
This type of marketing is referred to as Word of Mouth Marketing where consumers are encouraged to pass along comments about products they use. WoM guru, Andy Sernovitz, has high praise for General Mills’ campaign:
General Mills & Kraft Create WOM Communities
What does this mean? It’s proof that word of mouth marketing is an essential element of your marketing plan. When money is getting tight, you need an army of fans who talk about you because they love you.
Good point. But are people participating in programs like this talking about you “because they love you” or because they’re being compensated with free products and coupons? It may be the former, but the latter certainly has some influence.
It this works, it sounds like General Mills will get one heckuva great deal considering how much they’re asking of participants in exchange for some free products and coupons.
October 14th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Gosh, I wasn’t going to do it…but you say I could get free samples of their exciting new test processed food products! AND as a bonus some coupons for my friends! How can I resist!
Plus, I get to give them intellectual property ideas for which there is a contract to sign that basically says=
“I agree to be fully responsible for all liabilities or problems my actions cause while offering all my money generating ideas for success to General Mills for ZERO money in return.”
Sign here____________ (idiot signature goes here, an ‘X’ is acceptable)
General Mills sir…can I also sleep in the basement of one of your buildings too if I agree to provide you with free building and parking lot maintenance? Think about it, leaves are falling and snow removal season is coming soon.
Geez, wise up people. Even if I was a major stockholder I’d think long and hard before giving away intellectual property to the corporation, because I can guarantee that if one of those ideas makes them or saves them $100000…they wouldn’t send me a cent.