Skittles.com social media experiment, what's really important

Yesterday, everyone was buzzing about what Skittles.com has done with its Web site.  Instead of directing people to a traditional destination site, Skittles created what amounted to an online "remote control," something resembling a widget that resides in the upper left-hand corner of the browser. If you ask me, it was designed in such a way as to fit nicely in the alongside Twitter search in browsers 1024 and wider.

The interface contains tabs that, instead of linking to pages on its own site, link to social media properties where the brand has a presence - YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, Wikipedia and Twitter search. In fact, the index page, if you want to call it that, opens to Twitter search for #skittles.

Tweets were flying left and right with sentiment ranging from "What an incredible idea; I LOVE THIS! Website nothing more than aggregate of what everyone is saying about u," (my sentiment) to "What do Skittles.com and Modernista.com trend indicate at meta level in regards to SoMe?" IMO, it's fashion. No more, no less." 

(Skittles is not the first attempt at such a creative approach. Branding agency Modernista started the "trend" more than a year ago.) 

What is of most importance?

First, Skittles bucked conventional wisdom about what corporate brand sites should be, especially those of packaged goods companies. Compare, for example, Skittles to Tide, Clairol, Iams and more relevantly, Jelly Belly and Reeses.

Second, this move pays homage to the importance social media has on building a brand's reputation. Mashable's Stan Schroeder said it best: "We won't see all corporations do a complete social media makeover [à la Skittles] anytime soon, but we will see them give more and more importance to the various social channels out there."

Keep in mind, this is not a complete abandonment or acquiesence of control over the brand. After all, links go to sites where Skittles does maintain some level of governance - YouTube, Facebook (fan page) and Flickr to name a few. It is an acknowledgement that the brand and its consumers can and should partner in co-creating brand reputation and buzz.

What is most important is that Mars recognizes that the strength of a brand relates to how much conversation there is about it. And, right now, there's a lot being said about Skittles. 

It's a risky, gutsy move that some will pass off as gimmicky and unoriginal, given that Modernista has already "been there, done that." However, I think the real lesson here has little to do with the execution, and much to do with the philosophy behind it. 

Whether it will prove to be a win for Skittles remains to be seen. What it is is a win for the importance of social media and the impact it is having on commerce and culture. Thanks to Skittles the cat has been let out of the bag and it can't be put back in. 

Comments

[Colby Gergen]

I keep reading about blogs about how Skittles.com is not original because Modernista did it first. Although this is true in the strictest sense, that Skittles did not originate this idea, there is a huge difference between Modernista, an advertising company that is only targeting a specific industry of people, and Skittles, who is targeting, well, everyone with a sweet tooth. Skittles.com IS original, bold, and different because this is the first main-stream product to attempt this approach. Joe Wurtz-whatever has no idea what Modernista is, but damn sure he know what Skittles are. The Skittles.com experience and results will play a major role in companies like Jelly Belly, Reeses, Tide, etc. determining their strategies and if they want to follow suit. As for reasons I don't like the new Skittles.com, you can read my blog about it at http://cramobservations.wordpress.com . Something I failed to get on to in my hurry of posting between homework was what Skittles did right: they jumped in the deep end and made a splash. They didn't dabble around in the kiddie pool, waiting for someone else to check the deep end for safety. They did it first, and they are getting all of the buzz about it because of that. If Jelly Belly does adopt this eventually, it might make ripples, but not the waves that Skittles made. So in that sense, I like the Skittles.com strategy, but as I talk about in my blog, there is still reason for concern and reworking.

Now, back to reading about inequality in the family structure. haha, have a good afternoon

[Air Yeezy]

I am seeing more and more lately on the importance of color or a color palette in comveying your brand identity. This summary from the Branding Strategy Insider is well worth a skim.