What small businesses can learn from the Superbowl
Four minutes. That’s how long it took for the first Twitter advertiser to bid on “power outage” as a search term after the lights went out at the New Orleans Superdome.
It also didn’t take long for cookie giant Oreo to respond to the now-infamous #superbowlblackout, spawning more than 13,000 re-tweets and nearly 5000 favourites.
Minutes after the lights went out, Oreo tweeted an ad at 8.48pm, saying: “Power out? No problem. You can still dunk in the dark.” Despite shelling out thousands of dollars for a coveted TV ad spot during the sporting event, it turns out that the most powerful bit of marketing during the industry’s night of nights was free.
Although the lights were only out for 35 minutes, Oreo’s cleverness and intuition to strike while the iron is hot will be remembered for quite some time.
According to Buzzfeed.com, the key to executing such a swift and gutsy ad was having a “brave brand” and Oreo executives in the room who approved the ad in minutes.
It’s an unusual move for such big company, and one which has been lauded for its creativity, freedom and brand knowledge. Oh, and millions of dollars of free publicity as well.
Such is the power of social media, where one small post could lead to enormous amounts of press coverage and exposure. Are you still a doubter? In the time it took you to read the opening paragraph of this post, you could have signed up for a free Twitter account which could potentially give you exposure to millions of eyeballs in the social media sphere. Or you could’ve invited 50 people to become fans of your business on Facebook. You could also have pinned a promo for your event on Pinterest by now.
Social media marketing has grown enormously from a fringe service into a massive and viable strategy for companies of all sizes, due to its low cost and easy upkeep. As more Americans spend time in online environments via laptops, tablets and smartphones, it’s more important than ever to stay connected and solicit feedback from current customers and potential leads.
So what are you waiting for?
─ Eliza Sum
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comments ( 3 )
Charlene
02 Nov 2014I'm not sure where you're getting your info,
Replybut good topic. I needs to spend some time learning much more or understanding more.
Thanks for wonderful information I was looking for this information for my mission.
Will Bowman
11 Mar 2013In the advertising world, the Superbowl is fabled as the grand final for many large scale organisations. You often hear of the huge advertising budgets and the finance required just to secure a 30 second spot during the game, a sum in the millions. It is ironic then that the commercial by Oreo was the most talked about advertisement of the Superbowl considering its very low relative cost. While this underlines the power of social media, it also highlights the necessity for large scale organisations to be flexible and active when an opportunity presents itself.
ReplyHats off to Oreo for seizing an opportunity and not being held back by red tape!
Arnaud
13 Feb 2013What a clever work from Oreo. They have linked social media to creativity, two important concepts in today's marketing life.
ReplyImportant concepts because we all now how important are social media in a life where we require information to be quick and easy. And today's technologies reinforce their use with all smartphones, tablets,...
Furthermore people can find on markets more and more products or services which are equal in quality and quantity. So each brand must be creative in order to differentiate itself from competitors thanks to its marketing campaign. It's the key in a lot of saturated markets.