Sweemo bills itself as a “experience sharing community website” where users bid auction style for “a unique range of user generated life experiences” like skydiving, cooking lessons from a Michelin starred chef or backstage passes at Paris fashion week. Think crowd-sourced Red Letter days. It was launched in a blaze of D-list celebrity stardust at London’s chic Embassy club in June (er, not that I went) and is currently being incubated by London’s g2i investment programme.
But that’s not the most interesting thing about Sweemo right now. The most interesting thing – apart from the helpful Italian pensioner who is offering the experience of Oxford Street or the opportunity to go Zorbing with two (2!) of London’s “hottest Glamour models” – is its blog. Why? because it’s hilarious.
Written by “Joe and Lucy”, the blog has absolutely nothing to do with Sweemo. Honest. The site is not mentioned once. As far as I can tell this a first for a startup in the UK, and deserves to be congratulated. It may have something to do with the fact that Lucy (who thinks “children are a lot smarter than they look“) has been busy looking after her sister’s “two little darlings”:
Within half an hour of arriving they’d emptied a whole pot of triple-action moisturiser, ruined my brand new butter-shine lipstick by painting their faces red, and tried to use my hair-straighteners as a sandwich toaster. And my “no-smudge” mascara? Well I may just sue under the trade descriptions act – you should see my cream sofa!
Luckily Lucy works in PR, and has a handle on this blogging thing. She was able to relate the whole story in laugh-out-loud detail. It was a hoot. Pity there are no permalinks. Details huh?
Meanwhile “Joe” – who recently went banger racing, enjoys windsurfing and pulled a “sickie on Monday to go watch the final day of the test match” – is a tiger a work. He recently landed a big project and “really must find out what it is.”
With a team like this, Sweemo is sure to go far.
I gotta say Mike, I thought this post was a little harsh. So they’ve got their blogging wrong, and so it’s not Brad & Angelina who’ve launched it….at least it’s a pretty innovative idea & they’re giving it a shot.
I’m not normally one to feel sorry for the startup, but the above post just felt a little “bully-ish”.
Not sure this is as dumb as you think, Mike. The blog isn’t for the likes of you and I. It’s an SEO play directed at Google. They’re creating a load of keyword-relevant content about saleable ‘experiences’.
cf. the morethan blog all about floods, pets and holidays.
PS. It’s http://living.morethan.com/ and was created by iCrossing (Spannerworks at the time).
Ian – If that was the case wouldn’t it help if they had permalinks then?
Yes, it would. Not the best implementation, but you can see their strategy, yes?
Zee – not sure I understand your comment – I thought Mike was praising the Sweemo blogs…. “As far as I can tell this a first for a startup in the UK, and deserves to be congratulated”
Hey Zee, lighten up – You heard Elaine – I’m “congratulating” Sweemo!
Hey Mike, of course you are congratulating Sweemo. It can be as difficult to be really bad as to be really good. The important thing is to stand out in the crowd, at least for something.