Every marketer thinks they've got this social thing covered, but the reality is a Facebook page and Twitter account barely make you legit anymore.
Mountain Dew steps forward with an impressive effort in Dewmocracy. Here's a brand actually willing to stand behind its social efforts by doing more than simply starting a conversation thread or engaging in scant, superficial, occasional dialogue - but, a true partnership with consumers that has product implications.
http://www.dewmocracy.com
Let's face it - consumers want to engage with brands SO THAT they can influence the products the buy. That sounds obvious, but often overlooked.
In fact, to call them consumers doesn't do justice in this case; these are truly brand fans.
The Dewmocracy initiative sent teams on the street, traveling across the country to see which of three potential new Mountain Dew flavors should come to be. The decision was informed entirely by fan voting.
But inviting consumers to help shape the product decision was merely the beginning - the name, the package design, the product color, the advertising - all consumer influenced.
Particularly impressive about this effort is the partnership between brand fans and the brand management team back at Mountain Dew. Not sure if the agency had a hand in this stuff at all. And while I'd typically call that a bad decision, in this case it really works - most likely because the brand team decided in advance to actually let the fans do the leading and they do the nuancing and finessing.
Seems like the world's most effective focus group to me.
ON STRATEGY, Dewd.
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