I’m at the Word of Mouth Marketing Association meeting in New Orleans where I sat a lunch table with Scott Anderson, CEO of Union Diamond, the second largest seller of diamonds over the Internet. His company’s phone policy is that if a telephone rings for twenty seconds, that’s ten seconds too long. Everyone in the company is charged with answering calls and seeing them through. I asked him how he’ll manage this as the company gets bigger. He said he’s like to continue the policy but perhaps have a set of numbers that would direct calls to the right group within the company.

BTW, Scott says that they support the Kimberly process, and only buy from suppliers who certify that they are not selling conflict diamonds.

Nice guy, good policies…I’m ready to buy! I wonder what of mine would look good studded with diamonds…

Here’s a random sampling of topics (Day 1 Day 2) at the WOMMA meeting:

JetBlue: Inside the Cockpit of their CrewBlue Brand Ambassador Network

General Mills: Using Community Outreach to Build Buzz

TheFind.com: Tapping into the Web’s Power Influencers — Women

Yahoo!: Doritos Crash the Super Bowl Contest with Yahoo! Video and Jumpcut

Flying Dog Brewery: Leveraging Your Brand’s Intrinsic Values

CASA: Honing Refer-A-Friend Word of Mouth Tactics in a Not-for-Profit Setting

Cold Stone Creamery: Using PR as an Integrated Marketing Tool

O, The Oprah Magazine: Driving Brand Advocacy with Special Events

Here’s the WOMMA code of ethics. They take it seriously. I talked with the group this morning about the importance of respecting not just the “consumer” (as their first principle states), but respecting the conversation as well. What would marketing look like if it took the ongoing customer conversations as paramount?

[Tags: womma marketing union_diamond ethics business ]

Categories: Uncategorized dw