Social Nation: How to Harness the Power of Social Media to Attract Customers, Motivate Employees, and Grow Your Business

Chapter 9. PRINCIPLE 6: RELY ON YOUR COMMUNITY FOR GROWTH AND INNOVATION

	I don't want to die and see on my tombstone: "He never owned a network."
	--Ted Turner

For those who have never tried it, Mountain Dew is a supersweet soft drink with a caffeine kick. First marketed in Tennessee in 1948, it was christened with a centuries-old Irish description of homemade whiskey and initially marketed as "zero-proof moonshine." As of 2006, it was America's fourth most-popular carbonated soft drink, behind Coca-Cola Classic, Pepsi-Cola, and Diet Coke. Mountain Dew has its own interactive Web site, offering everything from screensavers and wallpapers to postcards and an entertaining game.

To leverage the social movement, the company established an online nation that people could join: DEWmocracy.com. Parent company PepsiCo used social media to create a network of Mountain Dew enthusiasts who would help it innovate—for example, propose new versions of the soft drink to help it stay at number four while gaining momentum in the competitive soda wars.

LET'S DRINK TO SOCIAL INNOVATION

The first DEWmocracy.com went public in November 2007. Visitors to the site found themselves watching a scene reminiscent of movies such as V for Vendetta or Children of Men, complete with dark streets, ominous music with heart-pounding rhythms, and images of corporate villains patrolling bleak neighborhoods to stifle original ideas and freedom of choice. Suddenly, a young challenger zips into the scene on a skateboard, ...