Tupperware Goes Social: Back to the Future

Fifty years ago, Tupperware parties were "social:" a chance to chat with friends and neighbors while buying those now ubiquitous plastic storage containers. Tupperware was ahead of its time, and now it's gone back to the future with social media activities to attract buyers when and where they interact with each other.

If you're on Facebook, so is Tupperware, along with its various promotions (see left) and its social responsibility activities (Save the Children). If Twitter is your preference, you'll find a Tupperware account there, too. (Tupperware offers fundraising opportunities, as well, with the designated charity receiving 40% of the purchase price from items bought during a Tupperware party.)

However, to jumpstart its social media campaign by leveraging a built-in audience, Tupperware hired Kelly Clarkson. "Kelly Clarkson is the perfect ambassador, as not only is she an extremely confident young woman, but is hugely influential in the social media world, with over two million Facebook fans and almost 900,000 followers on Twitter," observes Tupperware's VP of Global Communications and PR.

That's important, because if you click through the links I provided for Tupperware's FB and Twitter accounts, you'll see that the follower and fan figures are very low. For any Tupperware message to break through in social media, much higher audience numbers will be needed. Will Kelly Clarkson be the key to Tupperware's social media success?