Oreo wins the Super Bowl Newsjacking game

At the Super Bowl last night, the power at the New Orleans Superdome went out for 35 minutes. It took just seconds for people to start talking about #BlackoutBowl and less than five minutes for brands to start Newsjacking the story.

Oreo wins big

By far, the best of the lot was Oreo with their real-time ad posted on Twitter. Thanks to my friends who know how much I love this stuff and tweeted me about this. Benjamin Strong was first to alert me (dare I say Benjamin newsjacked the Oreo newsjack...). Others who alerted me include (not in order) Amy Baylee, Melissa Mines, Margaret Ebeling, Dan Moyle, Alan Belniak, Damien Basile, Mike Hapner, and Victor Ruiz. Thank you all.

This morning, there are a bunch of posts and articles talking about #Newsjacking the #BlackoutBowl. At CNN Chelsea J. Carter says #BlackoutBowl generates social media moment for jokesters, advertisers and Matt McGee writes in Marketing Land Oreo, Audi & Walgreens Newsjack Super Bowl Blackout Bowl.

Clearly, getting out quickly is key in such a situation. But as Benjamin said regarding a good effort that not many people saw from home improvement company Lowes, brands really need to put hashtags into their Tweets so people can find them. This real-time tweet "Hey dome operators at the 'Big Game', there are a few Lowe's nearby if you need some generators" was good, but only had a few hundred RTs because few people saw it.

Newsjacking works.

This newsjack from Oreo succeeds because it was fast, its witty and fun, its non-controversial, and it ties back to the brand and its messages.

Newsjacking gets attention. Oreo spent many millions of dollars running television ads during the Super Bowl. But on a cost per view basis, newsjacking generated a much, much bigger ROI.

Comments

[Danmoyle]

I also loved the Charmin tweets about the blackout. They've done well with the #tweetsfromtheseat effort. The power outage and Twitter was much more entertaining than the rest of the hoopla. Except for maybe the Paul Harvey voiceover for Dodge Trucks. Cheers!

[David Meerman Scott]

I agree Dan. The TV ads were so-so. It wasn't until the #blackout that things got interesting for me.

[Chris Syme]

I thought what Tide did during the blackout was creative as well. But, from the timeline it's hard to say if they were copying Oreo or doing their own thing.

[Larry Waight (@larrywaight)]

It was amazing to see companies like Oreo, Audi and Walgreens newsjack the super bowl blockout bowl. Like David says, newsjacking is a mindset and having that kind of mindset is a competitive advantage in today's world.

[Edwindearborn]

My blog post on "So God Made A Farmer" was written an hour after the game, and then sent to Chrysler. They immediately posted it on their feed and then followed me! It went viral to say the least/.

[David Meerman Scott]

Edwin - congrats!

[Len Herstein, CEO, ManageCamp Inc.]

This is great stuff - glad to see more success stories. Really interesting to get behind the scenes though and realize that many of these brands have created an infrastructure that allows them to 'plan' for these opportunities so that they can strike while the iron's hot (or the lights are out). Can't wait to hear more at Brand ManageCamp!

[Jillym14]

This is what I love about social media in our modern day society. Advertising companies devote so much money and time to create and distribute advertising campaigns. Yet, Oreo and the Super Bowl prove that a simple hashtag can generate even more money and followers than a fancy commercial. I guess what social media experts can take away from the #BlackOutBowl is that you always have to be ready for any kind of plot twist during national events. You never know what can help get your brand some easy and cheap attention!

I subscribed to your blog after learning about it in Social Media Theory & Practice course I am taking with @dr4ward at Syracuse University's @NewhouseSU. Our class hashtag is #NewhouseSM4. Feel free to contribute and follow along!

[David Meerman Scott]

Hi Len -- YES!! I'm excited to relate exactly how brands can do this during my talk at Brand Manage Camp!

Jillian - It's amazing what you can achieve by developing a real-time mindset. But most marketers and PR people are still in campaign mode. Thanks for subscribing and say "hey" to your classmates and @dr4ward