Coach are no strangers to social media, having accumulated an impressive fan base on Facebook and Twitter, and a small army of bloggers who frequently write about their products and campaigns.

Their latest social media experiment, The Coach Poppy Project, is by far the smartest thing I’ve seen in social media year, and I am thrilled to be part of it.

Have you spotted the pretty Poppy banner on the left hand-side of my blog? Yup, that’s right they’ve managed to get almost 360 bloggers (and growing) from around the globe to install an “advertising banner” (quote – unquote) on their blogs.

The incentive (apart from the fact my blog is now WAY prettier)?

Coach have hidden some handbags within the Poppy patterns all over the web; if you spot one click on it, and you’re in for a treat! It’s kinda like the old memes we used to do back in the day where bloggers would link to back another… god I miss those! I’ve discovered tons of really cool new blogs thanks to this widget!

Play with the banner, Like the dedicated Facebook Fan Page, Tweet my personal hashtag #LondonTown #CoachPoppy (you can tweet directly from the banner) and the Poppy will get bigger and prettier!

So c’mon Poppy, grow!

For all Coach Fans out there, the London store will open in Spring 2011 – can’t wait!