#oscars Marketing

In my last post, I capitalized on the recent trend of “real-time marketing” and how Oreo has done an exceptional job using this technique in their social media platforms during cultural televised events, like the Superbowl and the Grammys, to connect directly with their audience, in real time. 

Yet, in the words of PR Daily’s reporter, Kevin Allen, “this cookie has created a monster”. While nearly one billion people were tuned into the 2013 ceremony of the Oscars this past Sunday, millions of people were also tuned into Twitter to tweet about the host, the winners and the best dressed. A lot of brands saw this as an opportunity to jump on the “real-time marketing” bandwagon. JC Penney, Special K, Stella Artois, Sharpie, and Visa, were some of the brands that released on-the-fly executions with varying degrees of success. Some were good, most were a complete flop, showing little thought put into them.  

Twitter users saw these brand’s executions, as a technique to not fall behind. Allen explains, “much more thought was put into being clever on the fly for the sake of being among many who were trying to be clever on the fly”. These executions were just an attempt to go viral, instead of a real marketing efforts to connect with fans. Yet, even the good executions, didn’t reach half the amount of retweets and buzz that the Oreo Superbowl blackout ad received. Twitter users were so fed up with the amount of brands using this technique, that for a short amount of time the hashtag, #oscarrtm (Oscar’s Real Time Marketing) was trending. 

You all know I’m a big fan of “real-time marketing”, but if you’re going to use this technique brands need to be truly fast, connect the execution with the brand message, or provide further information for tweeter users. This is where most brands missed their opportunities. 

Which brand had the best executions? 

The Real Winners of the Superbowl

It’s no joke what social media has done to the Public Relations and overall communications industry. It has dramatically changed the way companies interact with its publics. It can either unite a community of followers to hate on your brand or it can create serious communication opportunities for the brand to be on top of things and engage in insightful conversations with its followers. This is called “real-time marketing”. 

Many brands have been using real time marketing in social media to manage crisis. Yet, real-time marketing goes way beyond crisis management. Real-time marketing can be used to seize or create unseen opportunities to be creative and increase brand awareness. This is the case of Oreo. 

During the third quarter of Super Bowl XLVII when a power outage at the New Orleans Superdome caused a blackout for thirty-four minutes, Oreo’s social media team jumped on this opportunity, tweeting an image of an Oreo and the caption, “You can still dunk in the dark.” The message was in instant success, getting more than 15,000 retweets and more than 20,000 likes on Facebook.

In an interview with Wired magazine, Sarah Hofstetter, president of digital marketing agency 360i, which handled game-day tweeting for Oreo, confessed that they had a social media team ready to respond to whatever happened online during the Super Bowl, whether it was an outstanding play or a blackout. The team consisted of copywriters, a strategist, and artists ready to react to any situation in ten minutes or less. Now, this is what I call being proactive. 

Mrs. Hofstetter capitalized on their strategy saying “Once the blackout happened, no one was distracted — there was nothing going on. The combination of speed and cultural relevance propelled it the forefront”. Talk about capitalizing on an opportunity! 

And since being an effective communicator involves jumping from one opportunity to the next, Oreo yet again proved their team is on top of things when they released another on-the-fly ad celebrating Justin Timberlake’s return to pop music at last night’s Grammy Awards. The ad, which didn’t cause that much commotion or steal the blackout ad’s spotlight, was very timely and clever. 

In an time where advertisers spend millions to run an ad during the Superbowl or an important award show, having a brand engage with their users using real-time techniques on social media is a clever way to reach people on smartphones and computers. This said, companies have to stay on their toes on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media channels to stay relevant. And companies like Oreo keep reminding us that social media is here to stay and the key to scoring a publicity touchdown is being proactive and a little bit clever.