Philips Brings Light to the Darkness
When your world is plunged into darkness for months at a time, it can be hard to get up in the morning. Philips is hoping to make that transition easier for the people of Longyearbyen, who live in darkness from the end of October until March.
The company has sent the people of Longyearbyen its Wake-up Light to see if it can help make even their mornings more pleasant. It’s not an unusual marketing tactic on its own, to have a sample customer rate your product, but Philips has taken things a step further with some serious social media integration, including blogs, video, a Facebook group and a website that will follow the townspeople for the next four months.
The result is not unlike following a scientific study. Each day, the test group posts their mood on waking online, with comments if they so choose. Phillips aggregates the results to rank how the town feels each morning, and you can follow their moods over the months. Philips also links to their personal blogs if you want to get to know the townspeople a bit better. It’s not actually scientific, but it’s a clever bit of marketing that will keep their products on people’s minds for months as they follow along at home.
