Stealth Army of Moms

Businessweek reports that Proctor & Gamble has enlisted a stealth army of 600,000 moms to chat up its products.

I sold it through the grapevine
P&G, the Cincinnati consumer-product giant is using personal endorsements to cut through advertising clutter. "We know that the most powerful form of marketing is an advocacy message from a trusted friend," says Steve Knox, Vocalpoint's CEO.
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P&G is the only such company to have developed its own in-house business units devoted to it, and it has the nation's largest legion of connectors. The effort started in 2001, when P&G launched Tremor, a word-of-mouth program also headed by Knox that is aimed at teens. Tremor now has enlisted 225,000 teens.
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P&G concentrates on finding women who have large social networks. Vocalpoint moms, who range in age from 28 to 45, generally speak to about 25 to 30 other women during the day, where an average mom speaks to just five.
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For one thing, they receive a steady stream of product samples. That's not all. They also get "a voice that is going to be heard by other companies," says Knox. Vocalpoint does this via a weekly e-mail newsletter it sends connectors called The Inside Track. A recent edition asks for the women's opinions on everything from the design of the newsletter itself to express mail options.