For those of you that like to party dangerously the GE Garage at SXSW 2012 actually makes you sign a waiver on their iPad before you can enter their event, which showcases serious industrial machinery (alongside less threatening margaritas). The most compelling station in the tent though is actually the most innocuous—it’s a Social Fridge designed in partnership with iStrategyLabs which leverages their Grandstand interactive social media platform.
The concept is simple: if ten people check-in to the fridge on Foursquare it physically unlocks and allows you to grab a free beverage reward. A screen next to the fridge acts as both a call-to-action and a scoreboard showing you how close you are to winning your prize.
The Grandstand suite includes a number of games that let you connect people in novel ways using social media at events. It has great applications for brands and venues, and GE’s customized display shows that using social media to trigger events in the physical world can be used to great effect. Watch a time lapse video of the fridge construction below:
