Chatroulette French Connection

What’s a fashion brand to do to win back customers — and appeal to new ones — in the midst of recessionary woes and waning relevance? Be provocative, of course. It’s something that hasn’t been a problem in the past for French Connection, the British-based fashion group best known for its eye-catching, play-on-letters advertising (think back to those billboards with giant block letters spelling out FCUK).

So now the company’s turning to social media -– including a contest based on the latest fad, Chat Roulette (the site that allows users to videochat with random strangers around the world) –- to pull itself away from the pack of mid-priced brands and position itself as a leader. Potential weirdness of Chat Roulette aside, the company’s move is smart, and timely.

Chat Roulette

Is it possible to meet an Orange County housewife, a pair of Chinese school girls and a teenage boy in a welding mask in under a minute? With a Webcam and Internet access, Chatroulette.com makes it possible. Users enter the site and within seconds are face-to-face with a stranger. A “next” button moves the user on to one of the more than 20,000 other people on the site. Unsavory types will most likely frighten unsuspecting Chat Roulette virgins, but the ones that stick it out will find: trigger happy users, judging and “nexting” before any actual conversation can be initiated; attention-seekers, putting on some type of outlandish display typically involving dance moves; and the random curious, just interested in the experience. Get past the voyeurism and exhibitionists and this site is an incredible global look at modern society; Chat Roulette introduces people from all over the world who otherwise would have never met.