Yesterday, AdAge wrote about Kraft ‘s DiGiorno brand is launching a flatbread pizza line, and they are planning on using Twitter to do so. DiGiorno will be searching for Twitter users known as “influencers,” then delivering food to tweetups that are attended by people they deem as influencers.

This is not the first time that a product has been used with social media. Some of you may remember when Ford gave away 100 cars for a few months to “influencers” with the hope that positive buzz would spread throughout the social media world and turn into revenue. What real return did Ford get from that campaign?

There are other questions to consider here:

1) What return is expected from the twitter part of their campaign? I have attended a few tweetups; the average attendance in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area is around 40 twitter users. With the reach that Kraft and DiGiorno have, it is possible that more people would show up knowing food was provided. Even if 100 people show up to a tweetup, when does the idea show the ROI Kraft is looking for?

2) DiGiorno’s tagline: ‘It’s not delivery, it’s DiGiorno’. The whole point of the Twitter campaign is to deliver pizza to a tweetup. Does this go against their philosophy and how they have positioned their product?

3) How is Kraft determining who is an influencer? Kraft has hired Minneapolis-based agency Weber Shandwick to ‘reach out to the influential Twitter users who are willing to host tweetups in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. Tom Moe, director of marketing for the DiGiorno brand, when talking about what makes an influential twitter user: “(that) is something we’re in the process of working out with the folks at Weber.” Am I considered an influential person on twitter because I have near 500 followers? DiGiorno and Weber Shandwick have an interesting task here.

Will the Twitter aspect of their campaign work? If this shows a high level of success, will other companies follow suit, sponsoring tweetups and other social media networking events?