Weblins Anyone?

For one of our classes this quarter, we worked on creating a marketing plan for Electrolux USA that incorporated more new media. Not old new media, like blogs and such, but new new media. Many groups came up with interesting ideas, such as a virtual wedding registry that linked to mobile marketing, or an online cooking game (using Electrolux appliances) that also had a community aspect. One of the groups also introduced the class to weblins.

Weblins are these miniature avatars that appear in your web browser and follow you to whatever page you’re currently at. There, your weblin can meet other weblins and chat with them either publicly or privately. It’s somewhat Second Life-esque, but definitely more tangible and practical. Think about it as a virtual version of yourself. In fact, you can upload a picture of yourself and customize your weblin so that it literally looks like you. Having a weblin will enable you to connect with other people who are visiting the same websites as you, taking the concept of connecting through shared interests to a whole new level. Weblins also make surfing the web together with your friends so much easier. Instead of having to IM each other with links of the page that you’re at, you can just both have your weblins at the same page and discuss if the trip on Expedia looks like a good deal, or if you should get that dress in purple or green.

How does all this relate to Electrolux? The idea was to have Electrolux-customer-representative weblins. They’d live on the Electrolux homepage to help answer questions or direct potential customers to the product they’re looking for. These weblins would also be able to live on other aggregator sites (e.g. Target.com) where Electrolux products may be sold, to help promote the brand and recommend relevant products to shoppers. Neat, huh! Let’s see if Electrolux decides to implement any of our ideas.. in the meantime, go create a weblin and have fun!

……….Rachelle Goh