casting a broad (and sugary) web with social media

a couple of years ago, i saw the first ad campaign that i could remember that didn’t direct viewers to a company website, but to a facebook page. since then, the practice has become commonplace, an interesting realization that maybe company websites didn’t matter, or were perhaps better served by a service that could foster discussion between and promotion from their customers.

a couple minutes ago, i saw a commercial from pepsi for their pepsi max product, a competitor to coke zero. it wasn’t surprising that they directed viewers to a facebook page, but it was surprising (to me, anyway) that the gist of the commercial was that the coke guy was caught on video drinking the pepsi product and became infuriated that said video was uploaded to youtube. the facebook page then encouraged viewers — at this point, caught in their social media web — to share the video via either facebook or twitter.

Screen_shot_2010-07-31_at_1

and here i am blogging about it, not to hype the product (i’ve never tried it) as much as their method. this is the kind of social media onslaught that ought to work. they’re encouraging fans of their product to share information wherever they’re comfortable, and i have a hard time believing that this word of mouth won’t make at least some positive splash for their new product. 

(full disclosure: no, i’m not a fan of pepsi and probably will never try their new product as i prefer coca-cola products.)