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There’s no shortage of mashups of social media tools Google Earth and Twitter, Flickr, MySpace, and Facebook.
But so far, they’ve been almost entirely for social causes, politics, fun, and, in the case of the swine flu, a way to track the possible global pandemic.
This just-launched mashup of Google Maps and Twitter from E.P. Carrillo Cigars seeks to add business to the mix by creating an international community of cigar smokers. The current mashup is simply a placeholder for the website, which launches in late October.
Elegantly simple, the E.P. Carrillo mashup features a real-time map shoring the origin of Tweets that mention cigars anywhere in the world.
When the site launches, it’ll use the same principle to add virtual tours of the brand’s cigar making process – from videos of the growers to tours of the factory. And it’ll feature UGC on favorite places to enjoy a cigar.
The purpose is brand awareness, not sales, and my guess is it’ll create a good deal of buzz and camaraderie among cigar aficionados.
The ad agency that created the mashup is DeVito Verdi, New York, Creative Director, Sal DeVito, Interactive Creative Director, Tyler Deangelo. Full disclosure: DeVito Verdi also is the ad agency for my client, Meijer.
Bonus Link: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome charity uses real-time Tweets “to make that point that ‘Blocking Alcohol’ removes the risk of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome.”