Skittles goes super social

Skittles has hit the social nail on the head by transforming its home page into a floating menu that points viewers towards brand conversation on Twitter and Facebook. Product pages have become Wikis, adverts sit on YouTube and images are showcased on Flickr.

Mars has already forayed into social media with ‘Instant Def’, a series of webisodes about a fictional hip-hop crew uploaded onto the likes of YouTube and MySpace, with copious Snickers product placement sneaked in. But the Skittles venture is far more interesting because it foregrounds independent consumer conversation rather than brand-produced content. For many companies this would be pretty scary – VP Carole Walker admits that “Wikipedia is a definition of what the brand really is”, effectively allowing fans to do the defining – but it fits well with Skittles’ existing positioning as “a border zone… a world that is unexpected”.  And of course, excepting Twitter, the pages are still all brand-controlled, so there will be some moderation to keep things reasonably on track.

Techcrunch has shown how the system might backfire; but by allowing controversial comments through, Skittles actually appear ever more confident and secure. In terms of brand to consumer conversation it’s a nice balance, putting the product in the hands of the people while still retaining some control.

More at Adweek.

Brought into the world on Monday, March 2nd, 2009 and filed under Uncategorized.