Budweiser Promotes Responsible Driving With Facebook App
Budweiser has taken its message of responsible driving to Facebook with the I’m The Designated Driver app on its Bud Designated Driver Page. Designated drivers are people who volunteer to not drink or limit their alcohol consumption in order to drive others who didn’t.
The app is located on the Wanna Go? tab and is an offshoot of Budweiser’s designated driver web site. Essentially the site allows users to take Facebook Events and match up designated drivers for each event.
Other features of the app are included in another set of tabs.
The Designate a Driver tab is where users can coordinate events with drivers, the Badges for DDs tabs allows users to award badges to each other on Facebook, My DD Profile tab shows how many times the users has either been a 
designated driver or carpooled with one and there’s also a feature that places an app box on the left-hand side of the user’s profile to let people in their network see how many times they’ve driven or carpooled and how many people they’ve driven.
All of these functions spread the word about the app throughout a user’s network in different ways via the news feed.
The app asks permission to post to the user’s news feed, as well as modify RSVPs, events and send direct emails. By setting up an event through the I’m The Designated Driver app Facebook users can see the guest list for an event, who the designated drivers are, who they are driving home and how many seats they have left.
Budweiser says on the app’s Page it’s meant to be simple, easy and “a great way to make sure you and your friends get home safe after a night out.” It’s also a tool that adds utility to the Events function on Facebook that users can utilize more than once and keep them interested in Budweiser’s page.
The Facebook page for the app, with more than 5,800 fans, is an extension of a separate web site Budweiser had created promoting the Facebook page, but also encouraging customers to thank or become designated drivers.
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:08 pm
Here’s a better title for your article:
“Budweiser Promotes Their Product on FaceBook using a ‘Drunken Passenger, Sober Driver’ Collaboration Tool”.
The hunger for maximizing profits knows no bounds.
By the way, have you heard how Facebook collaborates with advertising and tracking firms by helping them associate your real identity the browsing history profiles they’ve compiled on you?
Read about it here:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/09/online-trackers-and-social-networks
You may feel the need for a drink afterwords so be sure to intox yourself on something better than Budweiser’s urine based products.
February 4th, 2010 at 9:07 am
Fred,
really? so your putting down an attempt by one of the largest companies in America because facebook is helping advertising agencies? Check the boxes click delete and get over it.
We should be thanking companies that are attempting to decrease drinking and driving whose death toll up to this poin in the year is over 1,000. Get over yourself and the “tracking” agencies, and hop on board about fighting drinking and driving!
February 8th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Mr. Patrick Soukup,
1,000 drunk driving casualties are terrible but I am far more concerned about the 79,000 deaths that occurred each year from 2001 – 2005 that were attributed to excessive alcohol use. According to the CDC excessive alcohol use is the 3rd leading lifestyle related cause of death in the US. ‘Sober Driving’ campaigns promoted by the alcohol industry encourage and enable people to make excessive use of their products thereby contributing to the 79,000 annual death toll.
For these reasons, I will not thank you and other business men who seek to profit from real social problems. In my view, Drunk driving prevention efforts are respectable when they are part of a larger public health and prevention program that attempts to work with communities and families in order to educate the public and promote health.
Stats quoted from: http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/