Update: much of the current debate on word of mouth marketing seems to center on "transparency" or, how much you should disclose to the consumer that is being marketed to.
During the recent election cycle, we executed a viral campaign for a national non-profit. Part of the plan called for outreach to bloggers. For our firm, this meant full upfront disclosure or identifying ourselves as working on behalf of the client. The client received much needed exposure but as important, didn’t get negative feedback.
A more interesting question about on line "transparency": is it ok to seed Internet discussions? We all know about best practices’ but I continue to hear contacts justify the practice.