Skittles gets it
My kids love skittles and so do I. In fact they love my home grown “Skittolies” even more. What are they? Frozen Skittles. I do not go skiing without skittles in my pocket and by the time we open the bag later in the day – Voila, you have frozen “Skittolies”! And the kid’s jostle to sit next to me to get them first.
So you know I LOVE Skittles and what hit the web yesterday. Skittles took down their regular website and replaced it with a site that is pretty much a social media aggregation around Skittles. The home page is a widget overlaying the twitter search for Skittles.
- Skittles new home page
I love that Skittles has taken an irreverent and innovative approach and being a candy, they can be playful – it is on brand. Skittles is fun and the bright colors besides being their “thing”, is consistent with the look and feel and plays into the brand. I don’t care, or get, that folks in the social media/marketing bubble have had a backlash today because it was done once before. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE FIRST – YOU HAVE TO BE BEST!. And at this point they have done it best. Outside the bubble, people think this is the coolest thing, hip, and fun. 
Just think, many people do not use Twitter – but they covered the bases with Flickr, Facebook and YouTube.
Skittles pics on Flickr
This is not for everyone. And the ramifications are huge. Practically speaking, Skittles can pull the site down and go conventional at any time, so they do have the ultimate control. But in actual fact, they have given up the site to their consumers and they are allowing them to drive the brand online. Lets hope that those who are not fans behave. For those that can take the leap – costs are down, reach could be up, and they have gone to where their audience is in a way that they want on media channels of their choice. Brilliant. There will be far more of this.
I do wonder though, are they in compliance with the terms of Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Wikipedia when they overlay their widget on the sites? Granted, it is good buzz for these sites as well, however in the strictest sense, they are not fully in compliance with some of the terms. Wonder what happens when the legal beagles get involved?
What do you think?
Comments
checked out the new site. skittles may “get it” but based on the comments on their new home page, they are dealing with the nasty side of social media. I bet that site will be down in a week and i won’t blame them. what real fan (who is not a social media guru) would stay on that site now for more than 10 seconds?
I don’t care. It makes you go out and buy Skittles
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