And the Curtain Rises on #WhatTheBlack

Black is one of my favorite colors. When I saw an email from BlogAdda inviting bloggers to participate in the WhatTheBlack contest and Expect the Unexpected experience, I thought, hey, what fun.

I wrote my post for the WhatTheBlack contest and then, also applied for the “Expect the Unexpected experience” which involved receiving a mystery package every day for four days and sharing it on social media every day and finally, blogging about it.

Now, I am old-fashioned when it comes to letters and parcels and the thought of looking forward to a package every day had me thrilled.

WhatTheBlack Experience

And so, Day 1 arrived on July 30 and one could touch the frenzy on Twitter as everyone speculated WhatTheBlack was going on and what day 1’s parcel would bring.

Imagine our curiosity when this arrived

Such a small box? What could it be? I couldn’t wait to open it, but controlled myself long enough to take a picture of it before I did.
Here’s what I found inside.

An egg? Oh no. I am a vegetarian! But wait, they would have thought of that, right? Of course they had! I found a cute little egg-shaped note with the egg.

I decided to wait until Vidur got home from school to eggs-plore the black “egg” further.

As it happened, I had to rush out for a book launch when he arrived and after quick instructions about lunch, I left. After I returned, in my eagerness to show Vidur the egg, dropped it. It cracked. I scooped it up quickly – the 5 second rule you know! – and placed it in a cup. After confirming that it wouldn’t crack open and bite us, I cracked it a bit more and took the shell off…..only to find another perfectly shaped black egg inside!

WhatTheBlack!

We smelled it. Ah, chocolate. My son curiously licked the shell and got a nice patch of deep blue on his tongue. In the meantime I had washed my hands and in my hurry to grab the shell from him managed to stain my hands as well! That’s some real fast color eh?

Anyway. After finishing dinner at lightning speed, Vidur was torn between waiting to show his Dad the egg before he could eat it. At 9.30, just as his patience was wearing out, Sury walked in and with his blessings, Vidur settled down to enjoy the egg happily.

“What will you get tomorrow, Mummy?” he asked.

I urged him to guess.

“Another egg?” he said, hopefully.

I just smiled and said, “We’ll see”

Day 2 July 31 dawned bright and clear.

Every doorbell rang hope but turned out to be something else. I got on with my day in anticipation and checking Twitter – I don’t think I’ve spent this much time on social media till now!

When dinner time arrived, I wondered whether I’d receive today’s package at all. Just when I was about to give up, the doorbell rang and there it was. What is it about doorbells and the moment you sit for dinner?

Eh? WhatTheBlack?

Newspaper delivery at night? A black newspaper?

Let’s read the headlines

What’s inside?

Hmmm. Well played, I thought.

My son wanted to know what was the connection between the egg and the newspaper.

Then, without waiting for an answer, he said, hey, both are morning things! I am sure your mystery product is a morning thing!

We checked off some possibilities from our list of guesses.

Bread?
Coffee mug?
Tissues?
Milk?
Toothbrush?
Toothpaste?

After a few more guesses I won’t list here, we decided to wait and see what the next day would bring!

Day 3 – Aug 1

Another round of Twitter conversations, retweeting, joking and guessing….and waiting. The day passed, night went by and it was Aug 2!

The courier man brought me a large cover with a small box in it. A little blase by now, I opened the cover to reveal…

What is in it?

Black Paper cup, black tissue and a card.

Hmmm. This is definitely heading somewhere.

I was now freaking out over Day 4 – because the Twitter grapevine had it that Day 4 was product reveal day! Yay!

August 3 came and went.
August 4 came and went.

What now? I reasoned thinking that it can’t be easy to ensure that a huge group of people all received their package on the same day…

In the meantime, Twitter was abuzz with spoiler alerts. The mystery product turned out to be a brand new toothbrush from Colgate.

But I wanted to see it for myself. And I did. Today, August 5 – my package arrived, delivered by a neighbor, because the courier gave it in the wrong house. Good neighbors, though, eh?

I ripped open the package to find…

And inside….

What a beauty.

The Colgate Slimsoft Charcoal Toothbrush

With Charcoal tipped bristles. Not a new concept. Charcoal has been traditionally used to brush teeth for ages, and is still used in some parts.

And we use Colgate products in our house, so I was happy!

Ah, very very well played, Colgate!

A black egg.
A black newspaper
A black cup and tissues
A black toothbrush.

Nice way to segue into a product launch.

I love it! I am looking forward to using this toothbrush.

Here is why it is unique:

My thoughts about the WhatTheBlack experience

A brilliant campaign by Colgate, executed smoothly by BlogAdda involving hundreds of bloggers.

Tough logistics to ensure that the huge number of participants received their package every day. They did it.

The lead in to the actual mystery product was so much fun on Twitter with all the guessing games and the high anticipation.

The excitement on the first day was crazy-fun, but day 2, 3 and 4 were equally exhilarating because hey, nothing beats the tension of waiting for a parcel and I loved it.

Even though some of us received their parcels before the others did, we thoroughly enjoyed the buzz that stayed throughout the day.

I know that Blogger Outreach programs are trending and brands are wisely connecting with bloggers to get the word out about their products and services and go viral. What I loved most about the WhatTheBlack campaign was its simplicity, leveraging the enthusiasm of a large number of social media influencers to get the conversation going about what the mystery product could be.

Great build up! And an effective way to boost their numbers by ensuring their presence on the platforms their audience is using.

I really enjoyed being part of the WhatTheBlack experience.

I must confess though, that my son wished that everyday would be chocolate day! Ha!