The opening session started off with Ed Keller, WOMMA Board President. Ed provided a brief overview of WOMMA. WOMMA was founded in 2004, and as of today has 370 members encompassing brands, agencies and academics.

WOMMA's mission is to make WOM part of the mainstream marketing mix. There are three fundamental pillars within WOMMA: Ethical Leadership, Research and ROI and Best Practices.

The basis for ethical leadership is the Honesty ROI:

Honesty of Relationships: You say who you're speaking for.
Honesty of Opinion: You say what you believe.
Honesty of Identity: You never obscure your identity.

WOMMA is also working to advance the profession. Research fuels strategy and planning, evaluation and learning.

WOMBAT is designed for best practices, it's why we're here in the Big Easy.

Ed then went on to introduce the WOMMA board with some interesting tid-bits about each of them. The purpose of course was to help start conversation.

Next up was Virginia Miracle from Brains on Fire for a WOM 101. Word of Mouth is consumers sharing information with other consumers. Word of Mouth Marketing is brand to customer to customer. Ultimately it's about giving people a reason to talk about your product.

Types of WOMM are: Buzz Marketing, Viral Marketing, Community Marketing, Evangelists, Product Seeding, Influencer Marketing, Cause Marketing, Conversation Creation, Brand Blogging and Referral Programs

The guiding principle is to empower customers to share their honest experiences. Ideally WOM facilities a dialogue among customers and with their brands.

WOM can't be faked. It's unethical and it can cause a backlash.

Why WOM? WOM has credibility, advertising is becoming decreasingly effective, and empowering the consumer benefits everyone.

Next on stage was Jim Nail with TNS Media Intelleigence/Cymfony. Jim is chair of the ethics committee at WOMMA. Jim's message: Ethics - Good Business, Not Just Good Deeds.

Jim showed a slide featured the Lone Ranger and Robin Hood. He asked, "Who would you rather be?" They both champion the poor, but Robin can be a shady character. However if Robin had just used the WOMMA Ethics Evaluation Tool he might have dialed it back a bit.

Consumers expect business to be ethical. Ethics are essential to brands. Ethical behavior is practical. Ethics is about trust, and trust is fundamental to any brand.