Behind the Scenes: A Story of Two LinkedIn Today Trucks

What better way to start your morning than with the day’s top headlines and a cup of delicious coffee? For the launch of the social news product LinkedIn Today, we hit the streets to deliver hot industry news along with free premium coffee from the LinkedIn news trucks. For those of you who missed the recent coverage, here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how it all came together:

LinkedIn Mobile News Cafes from Manifold on Vimeo.

We wanted to take our digital brand offline in a fun way that would allow users to get their hands on new products like LinkedIn Today.

With the food truck trend all the rage, we decided to custom wrap two food trucks where people could demo LinkedIn Today while sipping locally brewed premium coffee - Martha & Brothers in SF and Brooklyn Roasting Company in NY.

What started life as a cupcake truck transformed into a mobile news café after a crew wrapped and outfitted them with iPads, an LCD screen, and slots for fliers.  The trucks roamed the streets of Manhattan and San Francisco during the week of March 28 to introduce LinkedIn Today and give out free coffee to busy professionals. Our users tracked down the trucks’ real-time locations by following LinkedIn Today’s live stream, and we responded to users’ requests on where they’d like the trucks to go next. Our team of volunteers, including many of my colleagues, chatted with passers-by as they tried the new product LinkedIn Today on iPads, their phones, and laptops.

So, what’s been your reaction to LinkedIn Today?

LinkedIn Today gives you cuts of industry news powered by shares on LinkedIn as well as tweets, tailored to you based on what your connections and other professionals are reading and sharing.  You can follow multiple industries on LinkedIn and Twitter to get the trending headlines on email, web, mobile, and Twitter.

The reaction to the product and the LinkedIn Today Trucks experience has been very positive. Users were most interested in finding out when we’d be rolling out LinkedIn Today functionality on their platform of choice (Android, iPad, etc.). The range of questions covered the gamut from simple questions on setting up the product to general clarifying questions on whether they get an email or have to go to the web app, how it’s different from NUS and Signal, etc. Thanks to everyone who participated in this social experiment, shared your excitement with others through your status updates and tweets!

Most importantly, your response helps Liz Walker and team continue to make LinkedIn Today better and relevant for even more users.  Stay tuned for more from LinkedIn Today - follow our feeds for the latest breaking news on your favorite topics - and feel free to email today_feedback@linkedin.com or tweet @linkedin_today with more thoughts and ideas.