Social Media 13 | SunMatrix Ramble

Build with Chrome: LEGO Chrome Experiment

Google earlier this week released their latest Chrome Experiment in partnership with LEGO called “Build with Chrome”. In this case, a Chrome Experiment is a browser-based interactive demo built to show what Chrome can do.

Now anybody who visits www.buildwithchrome.com via their Chrome browser can use their mouse or touchscreen to build something out of the virtual LEGO bricks and share them directly on Google+.

Why this is a smart Chrome Experiment

This is a simple product demonstration disguised as play. It shows off what the browser can do by putting it in service of something people already understand. Building with LEGO.

Extractable takeaway: when you want people to remember a platform capability, attach it to a familiar action so the technology explains itself through use.

The real question is whether the experience makes the browser capability memorable by turning it into something people instantly know how to do.

Low learning curve. If you can drag and drop, you can participate.
Touch-ready by design. Mouse and touchscreen both make sense for “building”.
Social distribution baked in. Sharing is part of the experience, not an afterthought.

For digital teams building interactive brand work, the useful pattern is to turn a technical capability into a familiar act people want to repeat and share.

What Google is really demonstrating here

The business intent is bigger than a playful LEGO build. Google is using a familiar creative act to position Chrome as a browser that feels interactive, responsive, and socially connected without needing to make that case through technical claims.

That matters because people rarely remember feature lists, but they do remember the tool that let them make something quickly and show it to others. The mechanism works because the act of building becomes the proof of the platform.

What to take from this if you are building interactive brand work

This is worth stealing because the experience stays focused on one clear behavior, then lets that behavior carry the product story.

Make the capability tangible. Don’t explain performance. Let people feel it.
Choose a familiar metaphor. Familiar mechanics reduce friction and increase time spent.
Design sharing as a natural next step. If the output is personal, people want to show it.
Keep the experience single-purpose. One clear activity beats a feature kitchen sink.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “Build with Chrome”?

It is a Google Chrome Experiment built with LEGO that lets people create virtual LEGO models in the browser using a mouse or touchscreen, then share them online.

Why partner with LEGO?

Because LEGO is an instantly understood building system. It makes the digital interaction feel intuitive, playful, and worth sharing.

What is the core marketing mechanic here?

Hands-on participation. The experience turns a browser capability into a personal creation that people can publish socially.

What makes a Chrome Experiment effective?

It demonstrates a technology through an interaction people enjoy, without requiring explanation, and it encourages sharing through an output people feel ownership of.

What is the transferable lesson for digital teams?

If you want people to remember a platform capability, wrap it in a simple activity that creates something personal and shareable.

The Snapchat Pitch

Its been a while (2011) since I came across an innovative Social Media recruitment campaign. In this latest example Norwegian ad agency DDB Oslo has tapped the growing trend of chat apps to attract talent to its agency.

To seek out new talent they created “The Snapchat Pitch”. Interested job seekers had to sum up their concept in 10 seconds or less via video, drawing or song and send it over to DDB Oslo via Snapchat. If the DDB creative department liked the pitch, they would fly the job seekers over to their office for a final interview.

Why Snapchat was the right medium for this recruitment idea

The constraint is the feature. Ten seconds forces clarity. It pushes candidates away from long explanations and toward an idea that lands instantly. That is a useful filter for creative roles, because the pitch is not only the message. It is also proof of judgment under pressure.

Extractable takeaway: When the format itself forces the behavior you want to assess, the application becomes a live demonstration instead of a claim on a CV.

Snapchat also shapes the tone. It is informal, fast, and personal. That lowers the barrier to submit, and it signals that DDB Oslo is looking for modern creators who can think in native mobile formats, not just traditional portfolio pieces. Here, native mobile formats means short, informal creative communication built for the phone screen, not adapted from a longer presentation. Snapchat is not a gimmick here. It is the right screening tool because the medium tests the same creative compression the job demands.

In agency recruitment, where portfolios often reward polish more than immediacy, that makes the channel itself part of the assessment.

What makes it different from typical agency recruitment

Most recruitment campaigns ask for credentials first and creativity second. This flips it. The creative output is the entry ticket. The interview is the reward. That sequencing matters because it makes the selection criteria visible and fair. Everyone starts with the same brief. Communicate an idea in 10 seconds.

The real question is whether the first application step can reveal creative judgment before the interview begins.

What DDB Oslo is really optimizing for

For DDB Oslo, the business intent is not just to look different. It is to widen the top of the funnel while screening for candidates who can already work inside a mobile-first creative constraint. That makes the application mechanic do two jobs at once. It attracts attention and improves fit.

What to borrow if you want to attract talent

Use a format-native challenge. Pick a platform where the format itself tests the skill you care about.
Make the first step lightweight. Low friction increases the number and diversity of submissions.
Reward the best with a real-world next step. A flown-in interview makes the upside tangible and shareable.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “The Snapchat Pitch”?

It is a recruitment idea by DDB Oslo where job seekers pitched a concept in 10 seconds or less via Snapchat using video, drawing, or song.

What did candidates have to submit?

A short concept pitch that fits into 10 seconds, sent to DDB Oslo through Snapchat.

What happened if the pitch was good?

If the DDB creative department liked the pitch, they would fly the job seeker to the office for a final interview.

Why use Snapchat for recruiting?

The platform enforces brevity and rewards clarity. It also tests whether candidates can think and communicate in a modern mobile-native format.

Why does the 10-second limit matter?

It turns the application itself into a filter. Candidates have to show judgment, clarity, and creative compression before they ever reach the interview stage.

Ikea Social Catalogue

IKEA has been innovating every year with their classic paper catalog. In Norway they decide to take this classic paper catalog and make a social media version of it. With zero budget, they ask their 130,000 Facebook and Instagram fans to post the page of their favourite product on Instagram and add the hashtag #ikeakatalogen, for the chance of winning that product.

How the Social Catalogue works

The mechanic is intentionally lightweight. Here, “mechanic” means the single action IKEA asks for. One public photo of a catalogue page plus one hashtag. IKEA asks fans to pick their favourite item from the catalogue, photograph the page, and post it publicly so the product becomes discoverable through personal networks. Over time, more and more items get documented and shared by real people, effectively recreating the catalogue as a social feed.

In retail and consumer brands with large owned distribution like catalogues, the cheapest growth loops come from turning existing browsing moments into public signals.

The real question is whether your owned channel can become a prompt people want to publicly share, instead of a one-way broadcast they only consume.

Why print is the trigger, not the limitation

Most brands treat print as a one-way broadcast. Here, print is the starting gun. The physical catalogue becomes the prompt that drives people online, and the content that fuels sharing is already in consumers’ hands. Print is not the limitation. It is the trigger when you design the handoff into social indexing.

Extractable takeaway: If you can turn an owned, offline touchpoint into a simple public posting behaviour, you get both social proof and a self-building product index without paying for equivalent distribution.

The growth loop is built into social behaviour

The “social” part is not a slogan. It is distribution mechanics. The hashtag makes individual posts browsable beyond the poster’s own network, so every new post increases discoverability for the next one. When someone posts their chosen page, their network sees it. That drives curiosity, repeats the behaviour, and compounds reach without buying equivalent media.

What to steal

Use an owned asset as the trigger. The catalogue is already shipped. The campaign rides that distribution.
Make participation effortless. One photo and one hashtag, then you are in.
Let the audience do the indexing. Fans effectively organise and surface products through what they choose to share.
Reward desire, not trivia. The prize is the exact thing the person already wants.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the IKEA Social Catalogue?

A campaign that turns the printed IKEA catalogue into a social feed by asking people to photograph and share their favourite pages with #ikeakatalogen for a chance to win the featured product.

What is the core behaviour it uses?

People naturally share things they want. The campaign turns that impulse into distribution and product discovery.

What does the hashtag do in this mechanic?

It collects individual posts into one browsable stream, so products stay discoverable beyond the original poster’s friends and followers.

Why is this effective for retail?

Because it turns product browsing into social proof, and social proof into incremental reach, without asking people to learn a new behaviour.

What is the simplest version to replicate?

Pick one existing owned channel, define one shareable action, and reward the exact item the person publicly chooses.