3 Billion Word of Mouth Impressions About Brands Each Week in UK, According to Keller Fay Research

LONDON, November 8, 2011 -

- Over 90% of Brand Conversations Take Place Offline; Mostly Face to Face -

- Tesco, Sky and Apple are Most Talked About Brands in UK -

The average UK adult talks about brands 78 times per week, which translates into 3.4 billion brand impressions each week that come via word of mouth. And, 94% of those brand conversations take place offline, primarily face to face, while only 6% are online. These are among the major findings from an ongoing study of word of mouth by the Keller Fay Group, revealed today at its WOM Everywhere conference in London.

The conference featured new, just released information from Keller Fay’s TalkTrack Britain study, an ongoing research programme that tracks word of mouth in the UK on a continuous basis. It is the only such research that looks at both offline as well as online conversation and was launched in the UK in July 2011. A similar study is run by Keller Fay in the US, where it has run continuously since 2006.

According to Keller Fay’s research, positive word of mouth outweighs negative by a 6 to 1 margin, with positive word of mouth more likely to be seen as credible and more likely to be passed along to others.

The most talked about brands in the UK, according to Keller Fay, are:

1. Tesco
2. Sky
3. Apple
4. Virgin Media
5. BT

Media and marketing play an important role in triggering word of mouth, with half of all conversations including references to media or marketing. Advertising is the most talked about contact point, with about 1 in 5 conversations including references to advertising.

In summarising the research results, Steve Thomson, Managing Director of Keller Fay UK, said “the main message to come through in our research is that word of mouth matters to all brands, not just those that are hot and sexy. Everyday brands are also talked about frequently, and brand marketers must understand the forces that can stimulate word of mouth and not just wait for it to happen.”

About Keller Fay

The Keller Fay Group is the first full-service market research company focused exclusively on word of mouth (WOM) marketing. The firm’s CEO, Ed Keller, is author of The Influentials and has a forthcoming book with Brad Fay. Launched in the US in 2006 and the UK in 2011, Keller Fay’s TalkTrack® programme is the only continuous study of WOM in all channels (online and offline) designed to closely monitor and measure the marketing-relevant attributes of actual consumer conversations. TalkTrack is sponsored by leading agencies, brands and media organizations.

Steve Thomson, sthomson at kellerfay.com, +44-7769-289590