Rayovac using social media to recharge an established brand

For those people whose power went off during the huge snowstorm that hit virtually the entire country last month, batteries were a big priority. For some of the people who were lucky enough to have electricity through the storm, the name Rayovac took on a whole new meaning.

The brand encouraged thousands of Twitter users to participate in a virtual snowball fight, a move so popular that #rayovac became a trending topic.

“The snowball fight was really kind of, ‘Everybody’s going to be stuck in their house today. Let’s do something with this,'” says David Carlson, Rayovac’s creative director.

Now, Rayovac is expanding beyond Twitter with a new social media initiative. The company set up a Tumblr to show off its new “indestructible” flashlight and document a cross-country tour to meet up with people who might use it on the job. YouTube videos document those meetings, as well as tests of the flashlight’s durability.