Snickers Slams the Brakes on Social Media
By Patrick Courtney
Last Monday the social media industry was all atwitter over the news of Skittles’ new official site (or lack there of.) While reviews were mixed in terms of execution (and originality), I think most agreed it was an A for effort and one of the more progressive social media moves from a brand so far this year.
This week another candy giant, Snickers, has decided to do nearly the opposite and shut down a super-cool user-created brand experience.
As you might recall, Snickers first introduced “Snacklish” in 2006 with terms like ‘Hungerectomy,’ to mixed reviews. Now they’re back, and a bit less medical-sounding, like Master P-Nut and Snackalicious.
And until a few hours ago, you too could have created your own Snacklish Snickers logo. Located at http://www.snckrz.com, the simple interface allowed any visitor to type in a term or phrase and magically transform it into the signature Snickers typeface. At the time of this post, the site currently has an ominous countdown to shutdown and a twitter stream of all the unhappy customers who enjoyed this unique brand interaction.
I played around with the app myself a bit before it shut down, and plan to use my personal “PatrickCourtney” Snacklish logo to send to my snicker-loving friends. If only my friends could then visit the site and make their own. A huge missed opportunity by Snickers.
The twist is, both Snickers and Skittles are owned by Mars.
Mars, I thought we were in the social media trust tree, with the nest, are we not?
