The Basement

Alrighty, I've been spending lots of time emailing folks I met at WOMMA (I'm not done yet), but I wanted to start posting some more detailed coverage of the event before the buzz wears off. (Read that any way you like.)

Based on several conversations, I gather that lots of folks came to the WOMMA conference on an investigatory mission – Should we join? (Yes you should.) What's up with this WOMM stuff? Who the hell is that Matt Galloway guy? How do I implement a WOMM strategy? What does a real implementation look like? Can you really get results? How do you measure ROI? etc.

As I have said, all of the speakers at the WOMMA conference were great. This is not just lip service although I can understand how one might be skeptical, but trust me on this, they were all great. But there was one in particular that I felt really answered the hard questions with real-world, rubber-meets-the-road poignancy. And if you were there and left even one presentation early, you missed it.

Gaylene Nagel, Head of Lifestyle Marketing for Electronic Arts presented her WOM Case Study: NBA Live 2003 vs. Sega 2K3 as the last speaker of the day.

The slides are available on the WOMMA site but they don't really do the presentation justice. Here's the short version...

• EA's product was measured by some game industry standard and was considered to suck in comparison to the Sega product.

• The previous year Sega outsold EA 2:1.

• EA was getting negative press (and resultant WOM).

• Sega was expected to outspend EA marketing 2:1.

There were lot's more challenges, but you get the point. Gaylene and her team developed what I would call an influencer focused WOM campaign. They started by finding a remarkable feature – the "Right Analog Control" and they renamed it to something catchy – "Freestyle Control." Then they focused on the intersection of hip-hop culture and professional basketball and they hit the streets. Instead of buying worthless ad space, they put the games in the hands of rap artists, DJ's and professional athletes. Instead of mindlessly handing out crap at trade shows, they made limited production runs of Nike basketball shoes and M&N jerseys and gave them to folks like Nelly, Fabolous and other influencers. They help hip-hop events and blurred the lines between their game, real basketball, hip-hop and the culture that surrounds them.

In short, they stopped marketing to the masses and focused on the thought leaders and trend setters of their audience. Then, they didn't market to them. Instead, they played with them. Instead of interrupting their influencers lives, they enhanced them. Instead of trying to trade money for attention, they did something remarkable, they traded attention for attention. So fundamental, so brilliant.

Gaylene understands passion. In her younger life she moved to Maui, because that's where the best wind surfing is. Later she migrated to the mountains as she entered the world of snowboarding. She understands what it means to be so irrationally connected that nothing else matters. EA is smart enough to let Gaylene share passion with other people. Passion, it turns out, is contagious. That's remarkable and it's exactly what a WOMM campaign looks like.

So, did it pay off?

• NBA Live 2003 outsold Sega 2k3 3:1.

• Despite lower ratings & competition price cuts, NBA Live continues to outsell Sega year-over-year

I love this case study for several reasons. First off, it largely happens offline – most of the focus in the space is online and sometimes this fact derails the conversation (But nobody know what a "blog" is? etc.) Second, they used real traditional sales metrics to show ROI – and it returned big. Third, Gaylene was not bashful about stating that EA's product was rated as inferior. She starts the presentation with this fact and gains instant credibility. Transparency, authenticity, and sincerity are so important – perhaps the most important things - and they are the things most attendees at WOMMA seem to be most scared of. "How can we be publicly critical of ourselves and still expect to win?" This is, of course, the wrong question. These folks should ask: "How can we not be publicly critical of ourselves and still look honest?" Well, you can't.

One aside, from the audience during the Q&A session, George Silverman clarified that industry metrics graded EA's product as inferior – but that doesn't necessarily mean that it was inferior. Mr. Silverman added that this was ultimately for the consumer to decide – not the industry soothsayers. If one measures superiority at the cash register, clearly, it's Sega product that fell short. Excellent point.

Thanks Gaylene for your honesty and for the great presentation!

DISCLOSURE: Gaylene has the distinct honor of being one of only two WOMMA attendees to hug me. But I liked her presentation best before that.