Mattel launched a unique social media effort that tripled Twitter followers at the Canada International Auto Show in Toronto. To showcase its Hot Wheels brand, it set up a vending machine filled with 1968 Chevrolet Camaro models. Attendees could get the machine to vend them a toy car by sending a tweet to Hot Wheels Canada’s Twitter stream and including the #ChevyCIAS hashtag. How the machine worked is captured in this video.

Mark Stewart at TrojanOne, the company that made the machine said, “I think the best part was seeing the physical and digital worlds come together with a social action causing a physical world action to take place — when the car dropped after people sent the Tweet, the smile on their face was priceless.”

Over the course of the 10-day event, Mattel’s @HotWheelsCanada Twitter account more than tripled in followers from 1,200 to 3,800. It could be major marketing milestone, as digital to in-store campaigns become more deeply integrated and embedded into the advertising landscape. Move over QR codes.

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Source: Adweek