Are You as Brave as Skittles?

Skittles (you know, the rainbow colored candy thingies that aren't M&Ms) has done something really interesting with social media.  They've (almost) completely done away with their Web site.  

Instead, when you go to www.skittles.com, you get the little floating menu above, with links to:

• Home (the Skittles page on Wikipedia)
• Media (their YouTube channel and their Flickr page)
• Chatter (a running Twitter search for tweets containing the word "skittle") 
• Friends (their Facebook page)
• Other Gobbledygook (just a drop down menu with links to parent company Mars) 
• Products  
• Contact   

The last two are the only pages at Skittles.com. In other words, most of their Web "presence" consists of links to social media.  All they're missing is a blog.

I'm not sure a winery would do something this extreme, but it does show what's possible when you think about it.  A slightly less-extreme version is what Donati Family Vineyard is doing with their "Winespace" and by featuring social media connections on their home page.

What do you think about Skittles.com?  What can your winery take away from this experiment?

And what wine (if any) goes with Skittles?

Comments

[Cheryl Durzy]

I think the web site with information about the product/tasting room etc is a little more pertinent for wine vs. Skittles (which one can get just about anywhere).

But I think romantic dialogue about how Skittles are produced would certainly be entertaining...but might keep me from eating them ever again.

[Maitre Raisin]

Of course, the day they launched this website, it featured twitter's skittles channel prominently. UNTIL people started making exceptionally rude racist comments on the skittles twitter channel and they had to take it down for the sake of decency. But the Internet moves fast and all trace of that is gone.

[mydailywine]

Interesting experiment to watch. As you suggested, perhaps they have swung to far in one direction.
But the concept of tying in with various social media outlets is a winner.
Especially for an established brand.

[debbie]

i think it is funny you chose skittles to write about....skittles, fruit rollups, trix and fruit loops...may not not pair well with wine..but i think the "fruit generation" are big consumers of california wines!