Whyte and Mackay launches Twitter Safari Hunt
Whyte and Mackay today launches a social media event like no other when it uses Twitter and Google Latitude for its Safari Hunt as it gives participants the chance to hunt down bottles of its whisky.
The event will take place in London and Glasgow and will see the brand’s Red Lions branding hidden in bars around each city. These will move from bar to bar until found using clues from the company’s Twitter site and on Google Latitude.
Once the lions have been spotted – they will be placed on the bar of each pub/bar - all the person has to do is walk up to them and touch them. They will then receive a bottle of whisky or drink after revealing their Twitter ID.
Amongst the bottles of whisky on offer will be 19-year-old and special Whyte and Mackay. Once the bottles have run out, anyone managing to find the lions will have a drink bought for them.
The social media event will start on Friday 27 March in Glasgow before moving on to London the following week.
The ways to find the Whyte and Mackay lions are as follows:
• Movement updates will be posted to www.twitter.com/whytemackayhunt (or for existing Twitter users @whytemackayhunt)
• Email updates will also be sent to whytemackaysafari@googlemail.com. People who send emails to that address will also receive – on the night – updates of where the Whyte and Mackay man is via Google Latitude.
• People can also pass on advice and tips to each other – and monitor progress by adding the hashtag #w&m to each of their tweets.
Phil McTeer, marketing manager for Whyte and Mackay, said: “Drinking Whyte and Mackay is a social experience, so it makes perfect sense that we would be engaging through social media.
“But instead of just sending out Twitter updates and blog chats, we wanted to fully embrace the ethos of web2.0 and so the Whyte and Mackay safari hunt was born.
“Basically we’ll send out cryptic texts and tweets about where the lions are, while also updating Google Latitude. For example, a tweet ‘If this lane was made of ash it would weigh a ton’ would obviously be Ashton Lane in Glasgow’s West End.”
He continued to explain: “And people not in Glasgow or London can still take part by following the tweets and adding their opinions as to where the lions might be – at its most extreme it could be millions of people searching for two lions.”
The hunt begins on Friday at 4.30pm in Glasgow with the next hunt taking place in London on 3 April . Other cities will be announced afterwards.