When the dust cleared 10 days after launch, the project had become a media darling: covered by 50+ blogs and followed by 1000+ people on Twitter. Mainstream outlets like NBC New York, Vogue, Nylon and MSNBC’s Your Business all took note.
Most importantly of all, it was fully embraced by Rachel’s fans – once we tweeted about the location of a bag, within 10 minutes, women were on the scene looking for it. And those who couldn’t make it, often sent boyfriends in their stead.
It increased interest and sales in Rachel’s brand, reinvigorating past connections and creating new ones.
And was some of the most fun we’ve ever had playing with social media.
When I first heard Jay-Z’s new song Empire State of Mind, which is a personal map of our hometown, I began to visualize the locations as data points: Stash spot @560 State. Tribeca Grill. MSG. Turns out I was not alone, as Tyler Gray of FastCompany placed Hov’s lyrics to Google Maps. Cool, novel, and any other adjective that can be used to explain how we remix stories within new media.
I asked myself – how could this become even more entertaining? And then, via the Google Geo Developers Blog, I learned that Japanese designer Katsuomi Kobayashi created a driving simulator that uses Google Maps – so that you can drive around any city via the interwebs. Like GTA. 2D or 3D. OMFG.
What if we could meld the two? Therein lies a game of some sort. Alternate or augmented or awesome. Via your computer screen or handheld device, sit in Jay-Z’s SUV and drive around his NYC. It’s like a dash of 2nd Life, and a pinch of ARG and heap of reality to mix it all together. Where can we put this thinking to use for transmedia elements of a narrative, an album release or an advertising campaign? Perhaps, within Heart of the City?
—- (Written by erstwhile Desedo intern Jeff Slawsky, a strategist, NYC native and rabid UMich fan.)
learn to dance with your partner. MSNBC’s Your Business featured The Alice Bond Bag in an episode called Learning From the Pirates. The thesis of the piece is that businesses can use the marketplace of piracy as an asset if engaged intelligently.
