UK-based clothing brand FCUK is offering $250 worth of clothing to anyone who can successfully seduce a woman on ChatRoulette.

While many will look at this and see a distasteful stunt, the brand is doing a good job of connecting with its hard to influence target demographic. It’s difficult to overstate the importance of a brand being social in an unobtrusive, relevant way. People are talking about the contest online and offline and that’s precisely the type of conversation that moves merchandise.

There’s a tendency today to simply push out a Facebook fan page and call it a day. This approach can be harmful for brands that don’t have the content or creative tactics to support their presence. It may also be harmful for Facebook as it moves from a closed money losing startup to an open money making advertising platform.  

If you want people to use their personal networks to promote your brand, you need to find a way to be relevant to the conversation. Social media strategy is not a formulae — two parts Facebook one part Twitter — it needs to be different for every brand.

Whether ChatRoulette will grow into something more than a meme is beside the point. It’s hot now and FCUK is bringing something to the party.

Dan Neumann