Marketing on Chatroulette - what’s the worst that could happen?

Chatroulette, for those who haven’t heard of it, is a unique social site where you share your web cam feed with strangers around the world and in turn spend time looking at other people’s web cams.

It’s an intriguing system which can genuinely bring people together and create short (or possibly even lasting) connections. It’s a site however more famous for the bad things people end up seeing on it (thing nudity, violence and anything bad the internet has to offer).

As a marketer you’d be forgiven for writing it off but Dr Pepper took the bold move of taking their ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’ campaign onto the site on April Fool’s Day this year. Their video featured a secy cheerleader who promised guests a dance if they did certain things for her, only to be replaced by an old, ugly, man dressed in the same outfit if they did.

Watching the video I’d really hoped they’d go for something a bit more drastic (someone breaking in? the house falling down?) but perhaps it’s best not to give your customers a heart attack. It’s an ingenious use of a risky social media, cleanly presented for us all to now enjoy on Youtube.