Teddy on Twitter

The other day I got a Twitter follower notification from the Twittering Teddy, which I looked at and decided not to follow back as it did not meet any of my criteria for Twitter following. It was obviously corporate, even though there was a real person behind it, which meant I didn’t block it.

If I had looked at it closely I would have recognised the branding, that of My Home 2.0 from Verizon FiOS, as I know a couple of the people working on the brand, CC Chapman and Steve Coulson. (they’re working with Campfire on this)

Then I got 2 mails in the inbox about the Twittering Teddy, one from The Advance Guard, one from My Home2.0, a facebook group I belong to after a previous outreach from Steve and CC. They pointed me to the story behind the Teddy

The Idea

Twittering Teddy is a project created by the team behind My Home 2.0 which is a TV show where people get a whole load of new tech in their house. The teddy basically logs into your Twitter feed and reads it out to you; for a few weeks from Jun 16 they’re broadcasting the Teddy live via ustream.tv. They’re also going to be auctioning off one of the teddies via eBay, to benefit the Homeless Children’s Education fund. Teddy’s also on Flickr and a few other sites.

Image used with permission from Advance Guard

What I think

Despite my initial confusion, I like this. It’s only just started this week and the only promotion they have done is following about 20 key people on Twitter, with the current blog press, primarily amongst tech blogs, coming out of that and the initial emails.

The Teddy is only part of the programme, which includes How to Make Your Own Weather Machine and how to light up a Dog coat with Fibre Optics. In fact, I can exclusively reveal that there’s going to be a whole series of weekly DIY tech shows by the team. As Steve says:

It’s more about a wider initiative to look at all the fun ways technology can improve your life, whether usefully or just to brighten your day

They’re going to be doing lots of different projects for different types of people, but all are planned to be fun and enjoyable to make.

The Pitch

I never actually got a pitch; I got a Twitter connection, emails through groups I belong to and a IM ping. The team behind the promotion had ALREADY built up the relationships that allowed them to promote the project and the brand. As I posted the other day with 5 lessons in promoting your brand, they have the reputation in the community that means they are trusted with the message they are putting out there. (as long as they never abuse it).