Shanghai -- Reckitt Benckiser(利洁时) has appointed Advocacy, a Shanghaibased word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing agency, to develop WOM campaigns for two of its personal and household care brands- Dettol(滴露) and Veet(薇婷). “Television media costs in China have more than doubled in the last seven years, but our prices have not. To manage marketing costs we are spending the bulk of our media budget on 15-second ads, as opposed to the traditional 30-second ads. However, this impacts the depth of our brands’ engagement with consumers. Adding consumer advocacy to our mix has potential to accelerate our brand growth efficiently as we expand into more cities,” said Aditya Sehgal, Reckitt Benckiser’s general manager, China. Advocacy was established in late 2010 by Asit Gupta and Sina Farzaneh, who spotted a gap in the market for a holistic approach to WOM marketing in China that also offers high ROI. “WOM’s positive impact in China is understandable given the trust and authenticity issues surrounding information and product quality. However WOM marketing is much more than a one off digital social media campaign creating page views and impressions. Our platform offers brand owners in China the ability to harness the power of genuine consumer advocacy in a rigorous, measurable and continuous manner. ” Mr. Gupta said. “With the continuing mass-media inflation in China, we will surely be seeing more and more progressive marketers following Reckitt Benckiser’s lead and adding authentic consumer advocacy to the media mix to get more bang for their yuan”