M&M uses social networks to generate buzz around coming SUV

Anand Mahindra has taken a leaf out of Richard Branson's tweeting book. In a manner similar to the way the Virgin Group chairman uses Twitter to announce product and service launches and major events at his over 200 companies, the vice chairman & managing director of auto major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is using the social networking service to create a buzz around an impending launch of an SUV.

Mahindra has put out a contest to the twitterati following him to guess the launch date of the W201. The winner will get a tour of M&M's new production facility at Chakan on Pune's outskirts from where the new SUV will roll out. There is a buzz that the date for the launch of the vehicle is fixed for September 26, but Mahindra is not telling.

The answers meantime are pouring in with a few asking Mahindra for his date of birth and others hazarding not very educated guesses. The SUV codenamed W201 is one of the most critical projects for M&M after the Scorpio. To be positioned above the Scorpio, the company has yet to decide the pricing and name of the first monocoque SUV from the M&M stable. The buzz, though, has begun -right from the top.