Archive for March, 2007

Interviews, User-Generated Content

Brett Hurt Word-of-Mouth Wisdom #5: Josh Kopelman, First Round Capital

March 17th, 2007 by Brett Hurt Founder and CEO

For the fifth installment of my Word-of-Mouth Wisdom interview series, I decided to tap our investor base.  At Bazaarvoice, we are fortunate to count six serial entrepreneurs as investors in our company.  One of them is Josh Kopelman, the founder of Half.com and a prominent figure in the Web 2.0 scene.  Josh calls himself a "coastally challenged VC" on his blog "Redeye VC" because he is based in Philadelphia.  But you wouldn't know it because his investments are in some of the most prominent early-stage companies that I know of.  His portfolio includes companies like 1-800-FREE411 (currently owns 6% of the 411 market out of nowhere), Aggregate Knowledge (a recent Bazaarvoice partner), Krugle, Riya, Root Markets, StumbleUpon, VideoEgg, Wikia, and YackPack.  I can tell you from personal experience that Josh is an extraordinarily helpful investor.  His connections are extraordinary and his entrepreneurial experience is incredibly impressive.

Word-of-Mouth Wisdom Interview Series

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Community, Customer Centricity, Marketing Strategy, Ratings & Reviews, Word of Mouth

Wayne Stribling How jetBlue is Turning Negative Word of Mouth into Positive

March 14th, 2007 by Wayne Stribling Former VP of Client Services

A few weeks ago on Valentine’s Day, a major winter ice storm caused jetBlue Airways to experience an unprecedented operational breakdown that caused over a thousand flight cancellations, hundreds of flight delays, and left customers stranded on runways for over 10 hours. As a Client Services VP and a jetBlue customer, I was shocked to hear about this huge customer service disaster, but was very glad I wasn’t flying with them that week! :-)

You probably heard about it too because it generated so much negative word of mouth that it spread like wildfire across the Internet and news media as angry customers rightfully vented their frustrations toward the company. It was clear that this PR nightmare would have a devastating impact on jetBlue’s previously high-flying reputation. Something had to be done fast to save it!

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Community, Customer Centricity, Research, User-Generated Content, Word of Mouth

Brant Barton Introducing Caitlin Oppermann, Customer of Tomorrow

March 9th, 2007 by Brant Barton Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer

Brand advertisers, direct marketers, multi-channel retailers, clients and prospects of Bazaarvoice, there's somebody you need to meet – Caitlin Oppermann. 

I read about Caitlin just this afternoon as I was reading Boing Boing, my favorite blog.  Sorry Sam!  Xeni Jardin, one of BB's editors, links to a compelling story entitled "Say Everything" at New York Magazine.  I highly recommend you read the story, but the main gist is that the proverbial "younger generation" is shamelessly comfortable with revealing the details of their personal lives to the rest of the world in the form of TypePad posts, Flickr photos, YouTube videos, and the agency of a thousand and one (and growing everyday) new social networking and community tools and websites.  The article provides a glimpse into the lives of several of the young people driving this trend, some of which have been burned by the limelight but others that can't seem to get enough of it.

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New at Bazaarvoice, Word of Mouth

Sam Decker See us at WOMMA, April 17/18, New Orleans

March 2nd, 2007 by Sam Decker Chief Marketing Officer

I'm speaking at the Word of Mouth Marketing Association's "Word of Mouth Basic Training" event on April 18 in New Orleans. I will speak on aquiring, amplifying and measuring online word of mouth. Brett, Brant and myself have attended and spoken at WOMMA's events for the past year and they always have a great turnout. If you're interested in learning more about where marketing is heading, hearing some forward-thinking case studies, come see me at the event. Drop me a note if you're coming! Cost is $795, but that's a bargain compared to most conferences…especially for the network of people you will meet and content you get. Register here.

 

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