A VW mechanic

Volkswagen – Fox no Planeta Terra – Twitter Zoom – English from AlmapBBDO Internet on Vimeo.

Radio’s Matt Deegan wrote a great piece recently about radio’s apparent obsession with Twitter.

In it Matt pointed out that only a minority of listeners are likely to care about the social media platform. He also described how clumsy use of Twittery references on air can be counterproductive.

Matt’s right of course – blasting irrelevant Twitter shrapnel at listeners can put distance between you.

But don’t think for a moment that in radio promotions we should ignore Twitter. While considering how few of our listeners use the service we should also ask another question: how many of our target listeners are on Twitter?

If you think the answer is more than several then you’ll be pleased to know you can exploit Twitter to your advantage without cluttering up your airwaves. Indeed, VW have done it without a radio station to clutter.

See in this video how VW used the power of Twitter to engage a new, highly targeted audience in São Paulo through exciting activity that brought people closer to their brand and their product.

Yet the mechanic is not about their product at all. It could work for any brand – even a radio station.

Indeed it’s extremely well suited for radio as it’s all about community, place, time, reward and the kind of excitement curve that radio rides better than any other medium.

I wonder which group will be the first to try this in the UK.

Hat-tip to Anthony Gay of Bauer Yorkshire for this video.