Social Media is exactly that. Social. Media. You can’t be social if you sit alone the dark watching Friends. I mean, you can, but then you would be lucky to have invisible friends that won’t return your calls. You need things like Twitter and Facebook so you can send updates and LOL’s to the members of your Friends Fan club when Kramer comes reeling through the door, or when Jerry laughs at one of his own jokes.
In other words, it works best when not in a vacuum. Somebody sitting in a room sending tweets probably isn’t going to garner an article in Fast Company. The brilliant social media plan that Mono developed for BluDot to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of their SoHo store opening, however, did.
What they are doing is dropping a number of their Real Good chairs onto Manhattan streets leaving them free for the taking. That’s right. Free.
The catch is that each chair is tagged with GPS, allowing it’s movements to be tracked throughout Manhattan (or the world) and shared live on a Web site. BluDot will then drop in on the new owners to interview them—whoever they may be—for their website.
The plan is genius because it has all the right elements—something free, something interactive, with a way for people to feel included—all wrapped up in a pretty package that is fun and easy to share.
Nothing short of genius. Orwellian genius, but hey that’s the free lunch part. Now if only we liked Friends as much.