I "HEART" Free Stuff

Ally Moehring, Integrated PR Strategist

It’s no secret that I am a Twitter junkie. Personally, it is important to me to hear about Kourtney Kardashian’s pregnancy 5 seconds before you and to read @jordanrubin’s Tweets so I can giggle like a schoolgirl (translation: loudly guffaw and snort, I’m not dainty). Professionally, I have to know what consumers and brands are doing on Twitter to stay current and do my job, which is why last week when my personal Twitter self reaped the benefits of a brand leveraging the space in a way that my professional Twitter self often observes and admires, I felt the need to tell everyone and their brother about it. A few things led to my over the top word-of-mouth reaction:


#fact 1: I follow @drew on Twitter.
Drew Olanoff, an internet and social media expert was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma this year and has since launched a few campaigns including www.blamedrewscancer.com (#blamedrewscancer on Twitter), conversation threads on how cancer has affected you, and partnerships with Livestrong and a little Google-funded company called 23 and Me (www.23andme.com, www.twitter.com/23andme).

I think Drew is wicked cool. He is leveraging his social media expertise and his diagnosis, infused with a sense of humor, to raise awareness of cancer in a very public, approachable way. I often #blamedrewscancer on things like AMP’s office being stupid cold or my bike chain coming off on my way to work (you should try it, it’s quite therapeutic) and I have contributed to conversation threads that remind me that there is a huge network of people who have also been affected by this disease. So when Drew contacted me on Twitter and thanked me for my contribution to the conversation and offered me a free 23 and Me kit, I was psyched to say the least.

#fact 2: I have a history of cancer in my family.
23 and Me is an at-home DNA testing kit – they send you the kit, you spit in a cup, send it back, and in 4 weeks you log in to their secure site to find out what diseases you may be genetically predisposed to, learn about your ancestry, and find out quirky facts like are you genetically built for sprints or marathons (my guess in my case: neither). When I first heard of 23 and Me I thought it was pretty sweet, but honestly it freaked me out– would I want to know that I am genetically predisposed to breast cancer, bipolar disorder or heart disease? The thought of knowing made me nervous until the trial opportunity fell into my lap at which point my overwhelming love of free stuff helped me overcome my fears.

#fact 3: I LOVE free stuff.
In fact, I ate a free Cliff Bar for breakfast, serendipitously given to me on a morning when I had forgotten to eat breakfast, but I digress.

At AMP we talk a lot about the importance of trial. In my case I was offered a product that I feared trying and thought little more of other than, “Huh – cool,” and now my friends, family, and others who had previously never heard of it know all about it. So why increase trial, especially for a product that once used there is no need to re-use (as is the case with 23 and Me)? Because giving someone an opportunity to try your product can instantly make it relevant to them – I didn’t care much about 23andMe before I was offered a chance to try it – now I can’t imagine not wanting it. And because once you give free stuff to loot-lovers, the word-of-mouth benefits can be astounding. And when done right, leveraging Twitter to increase trial can result in meaningful and highly measurable online impressions and highly visible consumer endorsements.

I’ll let you know what my DNA test says about me, but in the meantime, if you are (un?)fortunate enough to be in my circle, expect to hear all about 23 and Me for the next 4 weeks and beyond.

Oh, and follow @drew (twitter.com/drew) and @23andme (twitter.com/23andme) – two very, very cool Twitter personalities doing very, very cool things.