Reactee has announced the launch of a line of interactive t-shirts that combine fashion, SMS and activism through “shirts that text back”.
Reactee allows users to create t-shirts that include a personalized message such “Stop Global Whaling” or “Andrew Keen is a Luddite” that is then complimented by a unique keyword such as SUSHI or MORON on the shirt. People who see the shirt can then respond to it by sending the keyword via SMS to 41411. In return senders receive a custom text message response created by the T-Shirt creator.
Example Reactee customers given include individuals such as DJs who want to share their playlists, political activists promoting a candidate, people who just want to get something off their chest, or entire organizations, which can make many shirts with the same keyword and use them to promote their unique cause.
Users can create text alert lists to communicate with those interested in their causes. Additionally, users can make their designs public and include them in the Reactee gallery of shirts that have received the most text messages.
Existing users include the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas and YouthNoise.
TechCrunch readers can use the code TECHCRUNCH to get 20% of any T-Shirt purchased until the end of June.
The service is interesting but it has to be seen if this is used by people at large and enough hype can be created around it for it to become a fashion
thanks .
i have konwn “Reactee”
it is none of my business.
isthat true.
Very nice product and one of the nice innovations of 2007
Personally I think this is a little over the top and not really viable for social adoption. More to the point I would suspect that even the geekiest would text it once, say “cool” then just smug on the in. Little more than a novelty IMO.
WWWeb 2.0 baby *snap, *snap, wink, point
I’d say it’s about one step below novelty, actually — I indeed have walked by many t-shirts and said, “where can I find that,” or, “what is that logo for, it’s a cool design,” etc. etc. I think it’s fair that it’s a small *problem* for some and Reactee can serve to provide more info (i guess). The process is still strained considering you have to walk up directly to someone and find that code before they hop off the bus or train…
Still, a new workflow is born…
“Find a t-shirt, geo-tag your location, then find the code and text that to a different service, all while blogging through outside.in, twitter update the t-shirt code…” lolinternets
I actually find it a wee bit disturbing. So many of us are all too happy to transform ourselves into walking advertizements through fashions that put logos and labels at the forefront of their designs. Now we can go a step further, using t-shirts to build databases of phone numbers and demographic data.
Those who will get the most mileage out of this will be “groups”, be they fan clubs, political organizations, businesses, or maybe a cult or two – those who will be able to generate the maximum visibility, either through sheer numbers of t-shirt wearers in the right places, or through the placement of their shirts on a few high-profile torsos.
For such entities, your response to their message will mean that you’ve been tagged by your personal attraction to that message, and by your phone number. That’s a considerable amount of personal information to give up freely. And you’ll never know how it’s going to be used.
On the other end of the spectrum, there will be the individuals who will create these t-shirts for personal reasons; to express a personal intrest and seek out others who share it. But for the forementioned reasons, I think that the game is already over.
This is cool. Too bad it’s not available for the UK.
This idea is really great for the right groups. Imagine going to a Bill Richardson rally and giving out 100s of these to the supporters. “Why Vote For Bill Richardson? Text PREZ to 41411.”
Do that at every rally for six months and you turn your supporters into a walking meme.
This actually could be an interesting promotion tool for bands or hired street team members on location at events. I’m going to try it.. keyword “Indie”
It’s interesting, but really why is this better than just stating your cause and then a URL or e-mail adderss for more info? For example “Save the Whales. Learn more at http://www.savethewhales.com” Or “Like my music? E-mail me at NiceDJ@yahoo.com“
Looks intereactive /
integrate user generated Shirts and messages
– with SMS auto reply technology /
– Not that hard … and it won’t catch on .. unless it gets newspaper
and radio news / also even after it does catch on / people throw away
shirts – this wont last
I think it is a great idea. No one is forcing you to wear the T-shirt
It is kinda like the dating site where you wear a unique tag/number. Then people can text the a number + your tag and start flirting.
any info on when/if it will expand beyond the US?
http://reactee....rt_subtype=FITM
Cool service. Got an error when I tried to place my order though. I wonder if TechCrunch is crushing their servers. Makes me think of those commercials where a small biz get up on line and all of the orders start piling in too fast.
Good times. Hope it works soon and I hope I dont get charged for the order that didn’t seem to go through.
Seriously? Interactive Tshirts through SMS? Why not just add this one to your deadpool right now…
Gal
We use TextMarks to help us power Geezeo’s mobile functionality. See http://mobilecr...ount-on-the-go/
They have an excellent service and I was pretty excited when they rolled out Reactee. It’s a great concept, the tees are cool and will act as a great marketing tool for our business.
Now we just need to add wearable LCDs that change content based on what people are texting to you
I like the mix of new and old “advertising”, I wonder how long it will be before they need to revert to an alphanumeric because there are only so many words (English and other languages) that are “unique”.
Jon
If only i could get a T-shirt with an ubuntu logo or creat my own style!
Sounds like a fun idea that people would actually use, although I can see their competitors offering something similiar here as well. There really is no barrier to entry for what they are trying to do.
Threadless.com is a great site for picking up unique and hip shirts as well.
The bathroom stall of the future!
“For a good time, text “UFIA” to 41411.”
I like the idea of the create a T-shirt to promote something, but the texting part is just stupid. If you want a T-shirt of your own design go to Cafepress make one and purchase it a base cost. DONE!
The whole text idea is just to add fire to the flame of the stupid web 2.0 hype, kinda like Twitter. Don’t get me wrong here this hype makes myself money as a web developer, just that I like it when there are limits to these types of things. Like spice up the ideas with something more than just text ads. Personally I feel a website address is a much better advertisement than a Text # Ad where certain individuals might have to pay for their text messages on their cell.
Sounds familiar. Who was it that made t-shirts with serial numbers on them with this same mechanism way back in web 1.0? Mix that with CueCat and you have yourself a winning something or other.
@23 it was skim.com – who i believe was from switzerland:
http://www.wire...cred.html?pg=12
I don’t know guys. This looks like one of those terrorist tools.
Like, they put a message on the shirt and then post a pic on flickr so bad people know where to text for their secret instructions!!!
Somebody tell Dick Cheney for me. He stopped returning my emails months ago.
If only i could get a T-shirt with an Mac logo! We are in the future now
So let me get this right… you see a slogan on someone’s tee, you walk up to them, you stand in front of them and stare at their chest while you memorise the keyword and sms number, then you send a text and get a reply?
What happened to talk 1.0 human to human communication?
I don’t get why anyone would pay to read a message that would be replied from a T-Shirt?,
Bizarre
Dan
FreebieSMS