How Special K Became a Social Media Star

It has to do with the strength of the brand at the moment we started to build our programs using digital and social media. With Special K, it’s our strongest cereal brand. It has a very strong relationship with consumers…The brand enables a dialogue around women and our key consumers, which revolves around weight management. You see a lot of the dialogue in this space that uses the brand as a platform for the interaction among consumers as they give each other tips and encouragement. One of the things we discovered about women when they go through a weight-management [stage] is support and encouragement from peers is very important, and social media is a great place for consumers to do that.

BrandWeek

Tweet the Rainbow

Skittles.com has had a redesign. Instead of whatever flashy product website was there before, you will now see a Twitter feed that runs down every mention of the word "Skittles."

It's a little gimmicky, but it's bold and kind of genius. People talk about "leveraging social media" a lot. But the fact that they use that terminology betrays the fact that a lot of people don't "get it" when it comes to social media. "Leveraging" things is DORKY. Social media is cool. (Note: Social media IS nerdy. There's a difference.)

The unadulterated content on the new Skittles site is what's incredible. The site now consists primarily of pages from other social media sites. And it's not branded, dolled-up or edited. If you tweet something negative about Skittles, better believe it's showing up on the page, right next to the "omg i love skittles" posts.

Pardon my editorializing, but as a Gen-Y'er, I must say--this page is proof that Skittles "gets" how to talk to Gen Y. This page is honest, authentic and is really speaking our language, without the musty stench of Dorkiness looming over it. Amazing.