Grab a spoon
Posted: Wednesday 15 August, 2012
Lizi Piggins
Most of us are guilty of having friends on Facebook that we probably don’t know very well, let alone interact with, but Ben & Jerry’s aims to change that by introducing an app called ‘Wanna Spoon?’ which looks for common connections amongst your Facebook friends.
The app works by searching for similarities between profiles, such as favourite bands, brands, holiday destinations and birthdays. Once you’ve been matched up with someone, you can notify them with the message: ‘Using a fancy algorithm, Ben & Jerry’s decided we’d make great spooning partners.’ If the recipient chooses to click on the link accompanying the post, they receive a coupon for Ben & Jerry’s new Greek Frozen Yoghurt.
Ben & Jerry’s has been quick to embrace social media since the start. The popular ice cream brand has launched several creative campaigns like ‘Fair Tweets’, which asked followers of the brand on Twitter to use their spare characters to send a tweet that promoted World Fair Trade Day; a ‘Tweets app’ then generated a relevant message out of the spare characters.
I think that Ben & Jerry’s has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to quirky, innovative crowdsourcing. The company’s social media campaigns always reflect how much it values its customers’ views, and ultimately I think this is what social media should be about.
