Today, the New York Times reported on what must be the dream internship for most tech-savvy college students. Pizza Hut is hiring a “Summer Twintern” to join the company in its Texas offices as the official tweeter for the brand. Intern responsibilities include attending special events & photo shoots, participating in company brainstorms, and monitoring social media in general for the brand.  The position is currently featured prominently on Pizza Hut’s home page, and is popping up all over the media.

This is an extremely smart move, and an example of how a simple idea can have a huge impact in the world of social media.  Seemingly inspired by Mentos’ 2007 Trevor the Intern campaign, Pizza Hut is turning to the millennial audience and essentially holding a casting call for the social media voice of its brand.  Instead of paying some established blogger or PR expert, Pizza Hut is wisely embracing its core consumer base and allowing them to speak for the brand on a very public level.

“They’ll be our social media journalist,” said Pizza Hut marketing VP Bob Kraut, “chronicling in 140 characters or less what’s going on at Pizza Hut.”

At Mr Youth, we constantly encourage brands to empower the consumer and let them be the authentic  voice of the brand.  It doesn’t really get much better than this.  The only downside is I’m not eligable.