Easy Networking
Don't worry, Stelios and his orange friends aren't launching their own social network - at least not that I know of - but one of his ventures has really taken on the spirit of social networking and using it to promote and enhance the brand in a brilliant way.
Now usually, I wouldn't dream of telling all of TMW what I get up to on stag weekends, but if it means you'll be better equiped to tell people how to use social networks to promote a brand, then I'm willing to put my career on the line.
Last May, I went on an Easy Cruise. There, I've said it. We visited all the big ports of Holland and Belgium and behaved badly. But that's not the point. Throughout our journey, we got to know the manager of the orange tub, and she took loads of photo's of our bad behaviour.
When I logged in to facebook, minutes after my return, I found, to my surprise, that the Easy Cruise Manager had invited all of us to be her friends, and also to join the Easy Cruise group. It was the perfect place to share our own photos and banter about the weekend. In short, Easy Cruise had given us a ready made forum to have more fun and rememebr what a great time we had on their boat.
The manager also posted her own photos of us, invited feedback and offered us dscounts if/when we came back.
And the orange cherry on top? 4 months later, and 2 days before the actual event, she sent us messages hoping we all have a brilliant time at the wedding.
How good is that? It's probably the best example I can think of, where a brand has gone out of it's way to open up a proper two way dialogue and added value to the experience. It's on a very personal, 1-to-1 level too, with someone I know.
I'm sure creating that kind of atmosphere for bigger brands would be a bit more difficult, but as a model of how it can be done, I think it's something to aspire to.
p.s. don't bother looking for incriminating photos, they were good enough to censor the posted selection