Friday Five: Go #MBTeamS Go!

BREAKING: At 3 p.m. CST Saturday, Feb. 5, Mercedes-Benz announced that our beloved underdogs, #MBTeamS, won the MB Tweet Race.

Congratulations to Todd and John for their accomplishments: They won a race, raised $50,000 for St. Jude and brought turned a rag-tag group of tweeters into a formidable pit crew. For an analysis on how they did it, check out these posts by Karine Joly and Michael Stoner.

As for me, from the bottom of my heart, I want to say THANK YOU to all readers of this blog who helped. Every tweet with the #MBTeamS tag helped.

If you follow corporate social media marketing campaigns, you probably know about Mercedes-Benz’s big MB Tweet Race campaign, in which four teams will drive four different Mercedes models to Super Bowl XLV in Dallas. They’ll be coming from four different destinations: Chicago, L.A., New York and Tampa.

Some 2,000 people vied for a chance to be in the race, but only four teams made the cut.

One of those teams — the one they call #MBTeamS — represents the hopes and dreams of social-media-savvy higher ed professionals everywhere.

And the hopes and dreams of Green Bay Packers fans.

But most importantly, the hopes and dreams of kids with cancer, their parents and anyone who wants to see this disease wiped from the face of the earth.

The objective of this race is for each team to get as much Twitter activity from its followers as possible. That means followers of #MBTeamS — which consists of higher ed guys Todd Sanders (@tsand on Twitter) and John Pederson (@ijohnpederson), and their coach, rock’n’roller Pete Wentz (@petewentz) — will need to “fuel” the team’s drive from L.A. to Dallas with lots and lots of tweets starting this Tuesday, Feb. 2.

Todd and John will be going up against some tough competition, so they need all the support of the higher ed community they can muster. That’s why I’m joining others in higher ed, including fellow blogger Karine Joly, to call for readers to join #MBTeamS and help fuel Todd and John to victory.

For this week’s Friday Five, here are five reasons why you should — nay, you MUST — through your weight and tweets behind #MBTeamS.

1. They are the underdogs. Todd and John are competing against a pair of lovable moms (coached by tennis star Serena Williams), tech whizzes Len Kendall and John Morrison (coached by Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher), and two TV personalities I’ve never heard of, but who must be famous (and their coach, RevRun of Run DMC, who is famous). As of Jan. 17, #MBTeamS had the fewest Twitter followers of this group. Which means that those of us who do follow will have to up the tweet frequency. Plus, all the other teams are better looking than these guys (see below). But who doesn’t love an underdog? Let’s get behind Todd and John and help them win it all.

2. They are from Green Bay. Which of course means that they’re Packers fans. Their team is in the Super Bowl. ‘Nuff said. #gopackgo.

3. They’re going green. And I’m not just talking about their Packers jerseys. #MBTeamS is the only team of the four driving a hybrid. They’ll be driving from L.A. in style in a 2011 Mercedes-Benz S400 HYBRID Sedan. I drive a hybrid (though not a Mercedes), so how could I not root for #MBTeamS? They’re team green.

4. They’re raising money for a worthy cause. “At the core of this contest,” Todd and John write on their team website, “behind all the football, fancy cars, and social media silliness, is a $25,000 donation that Mercedes-Benz is making to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital on behalf of our coach, Pete Wentz, and #MBteamS. Even better, if we do end up ‘winning’ this thing, Mercedes-Benz kicks in an additional $20,000, totaling $45,000, to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.” St. Jude’s is one of the world’s leading pediatric cancer research centers. By joining Todd and John, you’ll be helping a very worthy cause.

5. They’re awesome. I’ve followed Todd Sanders on Twitter for quite some time and I’ve got to say that he’s one of the most entertaining, intelligent, zany, fun-loving people I’ve ever met virtually. (I still haven’t met Todd face-to-face but hope to someday soon so he can buy me a beer.) Todd brings an unparalleled joie de vivre to Twitter, YouTube and his all-too-infrequent blog posts. I’ve only recently started following John but figured if he’s buds with Todd he must be OK. And he is. Together, and with their rock-and-roll coach, they’re going to rock this MBTweetRace like no one else can. It’s going to be awesome. Don’t miss out.

I could list more reasons, but do you really need more convincing? Just join the cause already. You won’t be sorry. And while you’re at it, why not purchase a bit of #MBTeamS swag so you can cherish the memories forever? Ten percent of the purchase goes to St. Jude’s.

Go #MBTeamS Go!