Interview: Gydget Delivers Wonders of Widgets To Sports & Entertainment Marketers

You’re going to go ga-ga for Gydget.

Like no other solution I’ve seen, Gydget is making it ridiculously easy to capitalize on easily-customizable widgets (or “gydgets”) and spread them virally across social networks - with an eye toward the sports and entertainment industries.

Think widgets that fans of a music artist, or sports team, can drop onto their Facebook or MySpace pages; widgets that then feed a constant flow of news, photos, music videos, event alerts, and even the ability buy tickets to far flung network of friends.

Because gydgets are template-based, no coding or design expertise is necessary.

All that news and event information is automatically imported from a music group’s or team’s own MySpace page, for instance. And commerce is handled through affiliate deals the San Francisco-based startup has established with major ticket retailers.

Once built, the gydget can be placed on the organization's site for fans to see, grab, and share with their friends. And each time a “friend” grabs the gydget, they can opt to be featured as a “top friend” on the band or team’s website, MySpace page and on the band widget.

What’s more, marketers can then track how many people grabbed the gydget, how many people have watched any video, and where the gydget has been placed, and more.

Best of all: It’s free.  In the future, Gydget hopes to build out a revenue stream by enabling outside marketers to buy advertising space on gydgets so brands hoping to associate themselves with a popular music artists, for example, can buy banner space on the artist’s gydget.

I went to Michelle Wohl, Gydget’s vice president of marketing (and former Nokia exec), to get the inside scoop on what makes Gydget so great.

(Approx. 7:50)

Quick links:

BRANDING UNBOUND The Blog
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com