Two years goes by in the blink of an eye. It was just about two years ago that I took over from Misha Cornes as Editor-In-Chief of Threeminds. And now the time has come for me to move on. I’m not going to spend my last post going on about how rewarding the experience has been (which it has!!) or how I will be leaving the blog in the qualified hands of Mike Hudson and Craig Ritchie. I’d much rather talk about this…
Just how far has social media come in the past two years? And can we finally stop calling it that?
It only takes a look back at some of the articles we were posting back in 2008. The ideas were much simpler. It was marketing “business as usual” with a little bit of social thrown into the mix. Cross your fingers and hope it worked.
Consumer involvement was appreciated but limited… a community member featured in a video, enthusiasts leveraged to help promote a new rollercoaster, and at best brands were crowdsourcing ideas for new products or services.
But even back then it was wrong to call it “social media”. It was something more interesting. For the first time companies were using their own loyalists as part of their marketing and even product development process.
It’s advocacy-led marketing, or perhaps that is still selling it too short… it’s consumer-led innovation.
Nothing hammers this point in stronger than the evolution the DEWmocracy campaign. What it was in 2008 versus what it is now (can you even really call it a campaign?).
DEWmocracy 2008
The 2008’s DEWmocracy was all about big. A big story about a future society where creativity was run by the government (I think?). A movie. A video game. And can we get a giant billboard and to shoot paintballs at? All leading up to the big vote.
Consumer interaction was limited to brand-designated activities. There was nothing to reward the enthusiasts for greater participation. It was interesting, but overly designed and heavy-handed in retrospect.
A New DEWmocracy
I could spend about five more paragraphs describing the incredible details of this new effort, but honestly it is so complicated (in a good way) that I will let their media hub do most of the work. This is big in a completely different way that 2008… big as in following an entire product lifecycle, big as in utilizing every tool in the social toolbox, big as in pure guts and forward-thinking and not being afraid to scare some people along the way.
3 Ways Social Media Consumer-Led Innovation Has To Change
1. There needs to be room for spectators and room for innovators.
Unlike DEWmocracy 2008, which didn’t really reward consumer innovation and contribution, Mountain Dew has figured out a nice balance this time around. “Dew Labs”, a invitation only community, allowed enthusiasts to vote, visit a sampling taste tour in 17 cities, or order their own drink kit in the mail. Designers and film students were challenged to get involved with packaging and advertising. Then there is dewmocracy.com and Twitter where anyone and everyone is invited to follow along as teams try and rally votes from around the nation.
2. It’s not about launching the big idea, it’s about building a story… one with room to be rewritten.
I’d be hard pressed to summarize the new DEWmocracy in a pithy pitch line. Even the media site requires a diagram. I don’t imagine a board room where an agency came in and gave a Mad Men style song and dance about “In a world, where they no longer get to chose the sodas they drink…” That was 2008. In 2010, the consumers are help writing the story. They are choosing everything from the media placements to the advertisements.

3. Integrate or FAIL.
Mountain Dew had figured out back in 2008 how to open the doors at their own company, to get product development and marketing working hand in hand. But it takes more than integration at the brand, it takes brand-agency integration and agency-agency integration to do what they are doing right now. The new campaign is a happy marriage of big social and niche social, of paid entertainment and user-generated content, of an ongoing road show and lead up to a big event. Nothing is overshadowing anything else. It’s a sign of a strong leadership and vision, but with healthy room for agency innovation.
So What’s Next?
That is my big question to Mountain Dew. What comes after Stage 7? (And hopefully it has nothing to do with an evil galactic overlord) How are you going to keep your audience interested? What is their reward for the journey you have taken them on?
Next for social media consumer-led innovation… More involvement in campaign development. More involvement in product development. And continuing blurry lines between when campaigns start and when they end, and who is in the driving seat.
Next for me… Well, you are welcome follow along…
Marta Strickland
@martastrickland