Author Archives: virginia.miracle

I am a passionate Word of Mouth Marketing practitioner. The juxtaposition of my experiences in WOMM vs. my time in the trenches of one of the country’s most voluminous direct marketers has given me firsthand understanding of the power of customer conversation and the relative inefficiency of shout and interruption marketing.

Currently, I am the Director of Word of Mouth Marketing at Brains on Fire, a national Identity and Word of Mouth marketing company. There, I champion the client services group and intimately shepherded the Fiskateers crafting ambassador program for the first 18 months of its existence. Brains on Fire is a supremely creative and intuitive company. If you ever are in search of examples for how to make every customer touchpoint express your true personality, try calling the Brains on Fire front desk.

I was first turned on to the power of conversational marketing through a role I was asked to tackle during my 4 years at Dell, Inc. in Round Rock Texas. I began my time there in Corporate Strategy and rolled through various roles in consumer marketing including word of mouth marketing manager (believed to be the first WOMM title at a F50 company) and leading the company’s online advertising to consumers and small businesses. Before that, I was a proud member of the late-90s phenomenon Trilogy Software and earned a BA in English language and literature from Princeton. I am a member of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association’s Board of Directors.

I am also a new mom, a mean Scrabble player, and a (formerly closeted) Bruce Hornsby superfan. I recently completed GH3 for Wii on Medium, but secretly doubt if I’m going to get good enough to go through it on Hard. I’m not sure how many more times I can listen to Metallica’s “One”, anyway.

Happy 60th, Steve Winwood

<this digression from marketing is unavoidable as we celebrate an important day today May 12, 2008>
Dear Music Editors of ABC’s Brothers & Sisters,
Thank you so much for honoring Steve Winwood’s 60th birthday and new album by making his music (both original and covered) the bed for your episode last night. There is nothing like […]

R.I.P. Nau

I never pictured announcing that a Brand Worthy of a Weekend has gone out of business, but this post is exactly that. Groundbreaking sustainable clothier Nau announced on Friday that, due to an inability to raise another round of capital, they are closing up shop. Click here to read the note from the […]

Tom’s of Maine Walks the Walk

My sensitive (gums, that is) husband recently purchased a tube of Tom’s of Maine natural toothpaste. What caught my eye was not the tube, but a stuffer inside the box that highlighted a particular employee and her volunteer with with animals. Her title was listed as “consumer dialogue specialist” and the volunteer work […]

New in Events? WOMM-U and nTag

What’s new in the world of conferences, you say? 2 things particularly spring to mind.
I just finished all of my plans to attend the upcoming WOMM-U Conference in Miami, FL. There is a great list of mainstage attractions, but what makes this event different is that the 2 days will be peppered with […]

Beija-Flor: Why Michelle’s a Fan

What follows is Part 2 to the Brands Worth of a Weekend look at Beija-Flor jeans. While I am personally a fan of Beija-Flor, I am relatively new to the brand, so I asked one of their longtime fans, Michelle Henderson, to answer a few questions.
How were you first introduced to Beija Flor?
I was […]