Last week, with all the buzz of the new Skittles web effort starting to fade, I asked where people stood. Was the effort wasted, or was it good that a brand put itself out there, had a little fun and experimented with social media?

A video (see sidebar or visit this link) of a discussion between Jackie Huba (blog: Church of the Customer; books: Creating Customer Evangelists, Citizen Marketers; Twitter: @jackiehuba) and David Armano (blogs: Logic + Emotion, Experience Matters, Business Week; Twitter: @armano) was the catalyst for the discussion.

Without further ado, here are the results:

(For RSS readers: Agree with Armano: 39%, agree with Huba: 26%, both have good points: 11%, let’s move on: 24%. Total votes: 39)

My take? I’m with David and others like Mack. I find it hard to watch all the criticism come down on a brand that’s trying something different. Too much knee-jerk thinking by people who preach experimentation in this space and then jump on companies that do, as if they could advise the client better.

Good on Skittles for trying. The buzz created was interesting to watch. Did it sell more candy? Well, it did in one case at least. Will it have a long term effect? The answer to that depends largely how they grow the seeds they’ve planted and engage those who have joined their Facebook page, have connected with them on YouTube and all the other networks. If they have a long-term plan in place to handle the different networks and get their community going, this just may turn out to be more than an experience. It can be a resounding success.

Last call on your thoughts. What do you think?

Tags: @armano, @jackiehuba, Business Week, Church of the Customer, Citizen Marketers, Creating Customer Evangelists, David Armano, Experience Matters, Jackie Huba, Logic + Emotion, Mack Collier, Outposts, Planting Seeds, Planting Seeds online, PlantingSeeds.ca, Skittles, Skittles.com, Viral Garden, Web Presence