#TAGS is no secret to Columbus metro residents. Columbusites (at least the 444 confirmed TAGS followers) have been playing
Tweet and Go Seek since 2009. Tweet and Go Seek has been featured on every major Capital City news outlet -- TV, print and digital.
Yet the Columbus-based art-startup may come as a revelation to artists, entrepreneurs and marketing professionals beyond Central Ohio.
@Tweetandgoseek leaves a digital trail and Twitpic for Twitter followers to physically follow to a recognizable destination in the Columbus metro area. The first one there collects the "TAGS prize" -- a piece of original artwork redeemable as a gift certificate at a local caf� or boutique, restaurant or hotel.
In 140 words or less, @tweetandgoseek describes itself as "collectible artworks left around a city. partnering brands add a value to each one. photo/location/value tweeted. Followers chase it down to get the goods!" in its Twitter profile. Tweet and Go Seek creator Matthew Barnes has hidden "600+ pieces of @misterbarnes art hidden all over the city to date!" he said in a recent interview with @hiVelocity via Twitter.
Barnes launched the project during Columbus' 2009 avant garde art fair, Art Basel.
"TAGS is the inaugural campaign in a boutique arsenal of initiatives aimed at creating more active, direct engagement with consumers and greater ROI for brands with an included twist of collectible art while balancing itself between the social/virtual and physical worlds. I like to call it Art-vertising!" says Barnes.
Tweet and Go Seek vendor values average an 85 percent redemption rate with 180 percent spent over the value of the brand giveaway. Barnes charges vendors a nominal fee for each piece left for a TAGS seeker, with labor, design, social media marketing and the hiding factored in. Each participating business provides something of decent value, i.e. $10, $20, $100 off so that "people will feel obligated to compete."
Barnes' start-up has been successful enough that he hires people to hide TAGs pieces. "TAGS serves three purposes: a) To actively engage consumers and offer them an immediate value as well as something they may be inclined to collect which may increase in value over time�b) To offer brands a unique way to engage with existing and potential customers with immediately measurable ROI while combining their social reach with ours. And c), For people to �become familiar with an aspect of a particular artists work," says Barnes.
Source: Matthew Barnes, TAGS
Writer: Kitty McConnell