You open the cap and cherry scent wafts into your nostrils. Just as you start to pour the beverage into your mouth you stop and wonder to yourself, “What on earth is Facebook water supposed to taste like?” Perhaps the sweat of 450 million people? No, that would be gross. How about a pleasing mix of black cherry and lime combined with water and sugar? While that’s not what first comes to my mind, the users of Facebook voted for this sugary concoction. My conclusion: don’t crowdsource recipes.
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In September of last year we covered the launch of a vitaminwater program which enabled Facebook users to create a new flavor. Today the company is announcing the release of “vitaminwater connect”, a black cherry-lime flavor made with caffeine. vitaminwater connect also happens to be the first Facebook created drink. 4 finalists and a grand prize winner were selected, each winning a $5,000 prize. The flavor will be released in March of 2010. For now you’ll have to wait in anticipation, drooling at the idea of fresh vitaminwater splashing against your lips!
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Want to decide the next flavor of vitaminwater or contribute to designing the new bottle design? The program is being rolled out in three phases. The first phase is is the “flavor buzzmeter” which is tracking conversations from around the web to determine which flavors people are talking about. The second phase, which will being in the next two weeks, lets users vote on flavor that they’d like to see added to vitaminwater’s existing portfolio of drinks.
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During the middle of this evening’s CBS coverage of the NCAA Tournament, Vitamin Water launched a promotion referencing their Facebook public profile. This is one of the first television promotions I’ve seen of a company promoting their Facebook public profile instead of their own website. Yes, media companies have been quick to adopt in terms of promoting their Facebook and Twitter profiles but many consumer brands have hesitated to do any promotion of their Facebook pages outside of Facebook.

I remember only a couple of years ago when MySpace links were ubiquitous within television commercials. From bands to movies to consumer brands, there were plenty of large commercials referencing their MySpace pages which still remain much more customizable in terms of layout but no longer have the same distribution channels provided by Facebook.
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