Is Tweeting For Free Stuff The Way Forward For Brands? Hmm...

Brands. All they want is love. But you can't expect love for free these days... or can you? Two South African brands are putting that to the test by rewarding people for tweeting about them. First was BOS Ice Tea dispensing free ice tea from a specially rigged vending machine. Now Toyota and DRAFT FCB are throwing their hats into the ring. Sadly, not dispensing free cars, but yummy gum balls using a rather cool Rube Goldberg machine of happiness. 


The jury's still out on whether these kinds of comms are actually worthwhile in the long run. Personally, I think it's always better to earn trust and love instead of bribing people to gain it short term. There was a fantastic talk at SXSW earlier this year by the head strategist of R/GA NY' (this year's Cannes Grand Prix winner btw) about just that. It was called "I Like You But I'm Not In Like With You." She spoke about how not all likes or tweets are of equal value. Some come from the heart. Most come from being coerced or incentivised, which is always dangerous to brand loyalty. 


All that said, I'm happy these machines exist and that clients are getting brave enough to commission them. Installations like these just push our creativity that much further, which is always a good thing. Nice job guys.