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CO-CREATION

Social media users come up
with tasty product ideas

Crowdsourcing and co-creation offer consumers an opportunity to participate
in a brand and create practical or fun products.

BEER DRINKERS IN SOUTH GIFs and there were 15 000 retweets using only ethically sourced items. In all,
Africa are often keen on the and 34-million impressions. nearly 100 000 flavour suggestions were
idea of enjoying a packet of received from Internet users.
peanuts with their favourite beverage. In According to the company, it used
Argentina, the combination of beer and social media to distribute The Peanut CONSUMERS DESIGN A CAR
peanuts is apparently even more popular. Thingy because it wanted to ‘give back There’s even been a crowdsourced car
to the Internet’ for coming up with the design. As a way to create a dialogue
Recently fans of a major beer brand product idea. with international car enthusiasts, Fiat
called Quilmes decided to create their executives in Brazil launched a project
own plastic cup that fits on top of a beer THE ICE CREAM IDEA called Fiat Mio (‘My Fiat’ in English)
can and may be used as a handy peanut Using ideas contributed by social which set out to design a concept car
holder. The company was so impressed media users as a way to co-create new using a collaborative process.
with this viral fan-created concept – it products is not unusual. A few years
called it “a genius idea” – that Quilmes back, for example, international ice More than 17 000 people drawn from
launched its own limited-edition beer with cream brand Ben & Jerry’s created a 160 different nationalities participated
built-in peanut holder and bag of nuts. new flavour called Fairly Nuts based in the project over a 15-month period.
on Internet users’ input. A prototype car was built using many of
Distributing the beer/peanut the ideas submitted and the Mio was
combination, which the marketing team Fairly Nuts uses caramel ice cream put on display at the São Paulo Auto
called ‘The Peanut Thingy’, became with praline almond clusters and Show in the country’s largest city.
a full-blown social media campaign. caramel swirls – all sourced from Fair
In order to receive their own personal Trade-certified suppliers. It came about Invitations were sent through Twitter
Peanut Thingy, social media users were as a result of a 2009 Ben & Jerry’s and an intensive advertising campaign
asked to share a GIF (a digital image file global marketing campaign called encouraged participants – ‘the people
that uses multiple images to create an ‘Do the world a flavour’, whose aim who made it’ – to see the result in person
animated effect) telling the brand how was to raise awareness for fair trade at the show. Ultimately, several hundred
they felt about the concept. In response, ingredients by challenging customers so-called Fiat Mio Creators turned up to
Quilmes received more than a thousand to invent their own flavour of ice cream be photographed alongside the car.
?
PHOTOS: SUPPLIED

Left: The Fiat Mio concept car was designed using public participation.
Below right: Social media fans of Quilmes beer came up with the original
idea for The Peanut Thingy

32 strategicmarketing August–September 2016