Do you see a difference between buzz, viral marketing, work of mouth and novelty?
I’m not entirely sure what you define as novelty, so I can’t really speak to that, but the other 3 concepts – buzz, viral and WOM – all belong to the same family of consumer engagement (in the marketing process). The commonality among these practices is the belief that the consumer is in control and will determine what media they want to consume and what they are willing to listen to and communicate about. In other words, what unites these techniques is the marketer’s willingness to allow the consumer to determine the messages to be communicated. However, there are some key distinctions that can’t be ignored. Buzz marketing is most traditionally an event or experience that’s intended to get people talking. It’s Oprah Winfrey giving away 276 Pontiac G6’s on her show in 2004 or Snapple attempting to build the world’s biggest popsicle in NYC’s Union Square (which melted by the way…which created its own buzz, of course). Viral marketing is any message that is passed along from one consumer
