Social Media that Blends

Will it Blend is a web 2.0 phenomenon. I had heard of the site and the concept behind it but had never actually seen a Will it Blend video. I had assumed it was another Diet Coke and
Mentos type viral video and never paid it much heed.

But the article I read today explained how Will it Blend was actually an ingenious marketing campaign launched by a little-known appliance company called Blendtec.

What strikes me as clever about this campaign is how it embraced the culture of the web and social media to show people doing odd things that satisfy an almost childlike curiosity - that answers those random questions that all start with the words: "what happens if ...?"

Another thing that stands out about this campaign is the absence of any branding in the name. Had the campaign been called Blending with Blendtec, I doubt the videos would have gone viral.

What was interesting too, apropos of my last post, was the affiliated 'friends of Blendtec' and the very unconventional product placement on Will it Blend? The latest being the iPad.

"I love my new iPad, it does a ton of new things, but will it blend? That is the question." asks host Tom Dickson. Is Apple paying for their product to be trashed and blended into a fine powder? Could it be so? It certainly looks that way. Proving once again that social media is re-writing the rules of Marketing Communications and Public Relations.