Mt Dew and "Choose Your Own Adventure" Online Video Mashup

Pepsi's done some interesting things online to build engagement with their legion of caffeinated Mountain Dew fans (and in the spirit of full disclosure, I'll come right out and say that I remember many a night as a teen drinking obscene amounts of it). Last November they launched an online casual game "Dewmocracy"; co-produced by Forest Whitaker, the game ended up bringing in over 600k unique visitors with average viewing times nearly topping 30 minutes.

But now they're making another online-only move, launching a 5-part action adventure serial that enables users to choose where they want the next episode to go (for those fans out there of Choose Your Own Adventure, this will sound somewhat familiar).

http://tinyurl.com/35rokx

How are they doing this?

Are they shooting multiple versions of the film, then aggregating votes and debuting the next episode based on popular demand?

Does this mean that rather than leaving most footage on the cutting room floor, they're actually polishing off each variation so it's ready for prime-time at the click of a mouse?

And will the buzz around this offset the production costs of doing so?

Pepsi execs claim this will be cheaper than the traditional :30 spot. I'll be curious to watch how this unfolds and to hear if it gives Pepsi the kind of engagement they're looking for from their fans.

What could this mean for other businesses?

We're not all ready to turn our business into a full-blown production video, or negotiate with a host of web portals to get placement for a user-chosen content offering, but this case study begs the question of responsiveness.

How responsive are you to customer feedback?

And what are you willing to do to act on that feedback?

It's one thing to ask for someone's opinion on which show they liked, and it's another thing to turn around and deliver on that expectation without batting an eyelash. We all know that it's far more complex behind-the-scenes, and these actions often require considerable up-front planning to quickly turn around and respond (it's safe to say that this kind of lightning turnaround must be planned into your customer service strategy from early on...true responsiveness is NOT simply bolted on after the fact).

Think about how you collect your feedback, and then how quickly you can ACT on that feedback. If it's all about turning casual customers into loyalist, a little pre-planning can go a long way (and finding cost-effective ways to offer customers choose your service delivered the way THEY want it is even better)!