Oreo Wins The Superbowl Ad Wars With A Timely Tweet

from the cost-less-than-$3.5-million dept

Mon, Feb 4th 2013 3:34am — Mike Masnick

Yesterday was the day that, each year, proves that people do not in fact hate advertising. They actually like it quite a bit if the advertising is good. What they hate is crappy and annoying advertising. Of course, every Super Bowl, various brands duke it out to see who can get the most bang for their buck in Super Bowl advertisements -- which this year went for a cool $3.5 million for a basic spot. Still, many people are pointing out that the real winner of the Super Bowl advertising fight wasn't from one of the TV commercials at all, but rather Oreo's advertising agency, who sprung into immediate action when the power went out at the Super Bowl. Within just a few minutes (I think slightly less than 15), Oreo had put out the following tweet:

Power out? No problem. twitter.com/Oreo/status/29…
— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) February 4, 2013

Just in case you can't see the embed, it says "Power out? No problem." And then had the following image with the caption "You can still dunk in the dark."

A few other brands got out some clever tweets, such as Walgreens tweeting that it carries candles or Audi tweeting that it was sending some LEDs over to the Super Bowl. Twitter claims that four minutes after the lights went out an advertiser had already bid on "power outage" as a search term (you'd think "black out" might have been more effective). But Oreo actually got that graphic together, with the caption, and got it all up online quite quickly. I'm in awe, given that with big brands you normally expect there to be a bit too much red tape and "approvals" for anything like that. For Oreo, the key to having this work was that its ad agency folks and all of the key people from Oreo were in a room together, so the approvals went fast.

Tide also got a "blackout" graphic and joke online, three minutes after Oreo. It put up a weak image with a caption: "We can't get your blackout, But we can get your stains out." Kudos for trying, but definitely a step behind Oreo.

It's worth noting, by the way, that Oreo did, in fact, pay for a Super Bowl commercial as well, though it was showing up on lists of the worst Super Bowl commercials of the year. Whoever came up with the image and the tweet in record time may have saved the Super Bowl for Oreo.

Of course, all of this does raise a larger point about marketing and advertising these days. Doing a good job often has less to do with how much money you spend than with how good you are at actually connecting with people -- and a well-timed tweet and graphic can do wonders.

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Filed Under: advertisements, blackout, fast reactions, social media, super bowl
Companies: audi, oreo, walgreens

55 Comments

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Ninja (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 2:33am

Idiom
Took me a few minutes to understand it. From http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dunk

dunk (dngk)
n.
1. The act or an instance of dunking.
2. A liquid or creamy food into which other foods are dunked.
3. Basketball A dunk shot.

So we get a triple score here! 1- immerse you in the experience of Oreo, 2- The cookie itself (2 crispy parts "immersed" in creamy fillings) and 3- basketball pun in a football match.

If I got it right then hats off to the team, it's plain epic! Advertisement for me is associated with annoying, invasive and visually unpleasant lately. However, done right it can be epic.

Btw, English natives please correct me if I'm wrong. The non-English native readers in TD appreciate!
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Mike Masnick (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 2:52am

Re: Idiom
I think you've read way too much into it. :)

Oreos are famous for being cookies that you're supposed to "dunk" into milk before eating...
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Ninja (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 3:18am

Re: Re: Idiom
Oh I'd never dunk that type of cookie in milk so I'd never imagine it's just some usual habit. Thanks!
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Aria Company (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 3:44am

Article tl;dr: ads are only good once a year, and with a $3.5Million price tag, of course they're going to try to be good.

For the rest of the 364 days: too bad, suckers!

/heh
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Ike, 4 Feb 2013 @ 3:55am

I think the winning tweet was the one from Audi America:

Audi @Audi
Sending some LEDs to the @MBUSA Superdome right now...

(Mercedes-Benz giving its name to the superdome)
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Zakida Paul (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 3:56am

Oreos suck. Here's a tip. Instead of spending such ridiculous amounts of money on advertising, how about spending that on making a product that people want to buy?
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haik (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 3:57am

Re:
Sorry, should have read the article with both eyes open...
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2013 @ 4:26am

What is this Super Bowl you talk of?
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2013 @ 4:41am

Re:
Its some sort of ritual combat that takes place in 10 second bursts between adverts.
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G Thompson (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 4:49am

Re:
Tim Tams!!! The biscuit of Kings and chocophiles everywhere!

Oh that's right, you're all over in America where cookies are not biscuits and biscuits are scones and scones are... WFT are scones (with cream and Jam [what you call preserve]) called??

Though calling Grid Iron Football is sorta strange, though calling it a Game is even stranger..

*runs now*
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G Thompson (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 4:54am

Re:
Think of soccer or Rugby.. then totally wipe it out of your mind and then think of a game like chess, played with two sides each with two teams each (offence and Defence cause one person can't be smart enough to play both.. oh noes) and then wrap them up in the most amount of protection you can find so they don't get no boobies or oweis. Then make it go for more than 2 hrs at a time (sometimes LOTS more) then basically to watch it you will realise why the American's are so passionate about 'watching' their Gridiron with Lots and Lots of Snacks and Beer.

Though I could be wrong
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nospacesorspecialcharacters (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 4:55am

Re:
They mean the Pooper Hole.
.
.
.
Come on guys, let's get this one rolling...
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martyburns (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 5:03am

Re:
I think its a bit like rugby but for pussies.
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Mr. Applegate, 4 Feb 2013 @ 5:05am

Re: Re:
not all Americans watch football or eat snacks or drink beer.

For some it is 'just another day'.
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Ninja (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 5:05am

Re: Re:
I'm thinking of something involving Pooper Hole, Oreo and dunking. And laughing.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2013 @ 5:11am

Re:
It is a game for the wii.

It uses 100 pins instead of the usual 5 or 10.
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Zos (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 5:12am

Re: Re: Re: Idiom
whatwhatwhat? you have no idea what you're missing
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Digitari, 4 Feb 2013 @ 5:13am

RE: Super
Super bowl, is that not the Crapper Superman uses??

*I hate (watching) sports, I am not typical of Americans
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FighterFei, 4 Feb 2013 @ 5:18am

Re: Re: Idiom
Well you could also call Jacoby's 108yd returning touchdown a dunk, too. In a sense. You know that stung.
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Zakida Paul (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 5:37am

Re: Re:
Couldn't agree more. I'm from Northern Ireland where we refer to biscuits(cookies), buns(cakes), baps(buns), scones(biscuits), and jams(jellies). The American words are in brackets.

PS the biscuit of kings is the choccy Hob Nob.
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Zakida Paul (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 5:37am

Re: Re:
Soccer? What's that? It's football where I come from.
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Donnicton, 4 Feb 2013 @ 5:48am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Idiom
I don't know if - strictly speaking - it's appropriate to use the insightful button here, but I did anyway.
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The Groove Tiger (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 6:24am

Re: Re: Idiom
I dunk mine in beer.
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Berenerd (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 6:29am

Re: Re:
Its much like the Irish vs British soccer games, only less guns and mauling by the fans.
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That One Guy (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 7:15am

Re: Re: Re:
That sort of 'fan participation' is reserved for hockey in the US.
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Spaceman Spiff, 4 Feb 2013 @ 7:34am

Kick me, harder!
Dunkin Donuts has to be kicking themselves right about now as this would have been a natural for them - doh! :-)
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2013 @ 7:39am

Re: Re: Re: Idiom
Ok that sounds utterly disgusting.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2013 @ 7:58am

Re: Re:
American football is just different than soccer or rugby. The positions are more specialized and the plays are more setup and choreographed.
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weneedhelp (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 7:59am

Oreos
Take 2, slather peanut butter in between then dunk.

A perfect treat after a super bowl.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2013 @ 8:04am

Re: Re: Re: Idiom
Make it a rum. Oreo+Rum=WIN!
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Nastybutler77 (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 8:18am

Re: Re:
Get hit by a 300 lb man running at 20 mph repeatedly then tell me who's a pussy.
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Nastybutler77 (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 8:23am

Based on many of these anti-football comments, I'm going to go out on a limb and say there's a high percentage of commenters who fall into one or more of the following catagories:
A) Aren't from the US
B) Got picked on by football players in high school
C) Are/were big fans of Magic: The Gathering
D) Didn't lose their virginity until their 20's
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weneedhelp (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 8:48am

Re:
Tsk tsk NB

A) Aren't from the US - Philadelphia, PA
B) Got picked on by football players in high school - Football guys were ok, I played baseball.
C) Are/were big fans of Magic: The Gathering - Played D&D at camp.
D) Didn't lose their virginity until their 20's - 15

Ahem! FOOTBALL SUCKS!!!!! I just dont like it. I would rather watch 20 hours of The Isle of Man footage, Formula One, and repeats of That Metal Show than be subjected to 1 minute of Football.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2013 @ 9:02am

Re:
Most people here has the attention span required to follow a discussion, and so probably prefer entertainment where they don't have to multi-task to avoid boredom.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2013 @ 9:09am

Re: Re: Re:
300 lbs of mostly muscle because he weight trains for that too.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2013 @ 9:13am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Idiom
That sounds ok. But beer?
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2013 @ 9:15am

Re: Re:
There is a difference between jelly (or jam) and preserves. Preserves actually have the fruit in it where as jelly and jam are made just from the juice.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2013 @ 9:25am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Or the occasional basketball game. :)
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2013 @ 9:35am

Re: Oreos
They make those too already. My wife loves the peanut butter oreos.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2013 @ 9:39am

Re: Re:
I grew up watching and playing football. Never really cared much for baseball until I met my wite who was a huge fan. I still prefer football to baseball even though I don't watch it as regularly as I used to. Now I mostly follow the PGA tour.
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John Fenderson (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 9:53am

Re: Re:
Scones are called scones.

The difference there is that I believe "scones" in the UK refers to what we call "biscuits" here, and "scones" here refer to a particular kind of what we call "biscuits".
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John Fenderson (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 9:56am

Re: Re: Re:
Indeed! I only personally know three people who watch football at all (I'm not one of them). I don't drink beer. But I do eat snacks.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2013 @ 10:06am

Re: Re: Re:
In jelly, the fruit comes in the form of fruit juice.
In jam, the fruit comes in the form of fruit pulp or crushed fruit (and is less stiff than jelly as a result).
In preserves, the fruit comes in the form of chunks in a syrup or a jam.

So all are different in their own special way. At least they aren't marmalade.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2013 @ 10:09am

Re: Re: Re:
In the US scones are sweet.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2013 @ 10:15am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
I wasn't aware of a difference between jelly and jam. We've always used those two terms interchangably.
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btr1701 (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 11:36am

Ads
> Yesterday was the day that, each year,
> proves that people do not in fact hate
> advertising. They actually like it quite a
> bit if the advertising is good. What they
> hate is crappy and annoying advertising.

Actually, what most people hate is the repitition and quantity of the ads.

Even those clever Super Bowl ads will be fast-forwarded through in the weeks to come as people-- having already seen them many times-- will become sick of them and just want to get back to the actual show they tuned in to watch. And when you put so many of them together that they ad up to over five minutes of non-stop ads, all the cleverness in the world won't stop people from hitting FFW.
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btr1701 (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 11:44am

Ambush
> I'm in awe, given that with big brands you
> normally expect there to be a bit too much red
> tape and "approvals" for anything like that.

I predict that instead of celebrating the cleverness of this sort of marketing, at some point one of these big events will go after the next Oreo for 'ambush marketing' and making money off the event without paying to be a sponsor. They usually do it by trademarking all the possible words associated with the event, but in a case like this, where there's nothing to trademark ahead of time, I can see them still stamping their foot like petulant children and whining about unfair it is that a company was able to capitalize off the Super Bowl or the Olympics (or whatever) without having to pay for the privilege.
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Suzanne Lainson (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 12:10pm

How Oreo was ready to take advantage of the blackout
How Oreo Culture-Jacked The Super Bowl - Speakeasy - WSJ: �Because Oreo was a Super Bowl advertiser, we had set up a team of folks at our offices with people from Oreo as well to both listen to and optimize the chatter on the Internet,� Sarah Hofstetter, president of 360i told Speakeasy via email. �While we certainly didn�t expect the blackout, the team�s first instinct upon the blackout was to figure out how Oreo can be relevant in the moment. Having a full team of creative, social media experts and the brand made it quick and seamless.�
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harbingerofdoom (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 2:25pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Idiom
agreed.
and if you have not ever done so before, may i suggest that you grab some oreos and milk and go to town on it.
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Michele, 4 Feb 2013 @ 3:37pm

Dunkle also means dark in German
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Anonymous, 4 Feb 2013 @ 3:54pm

I didn't watch the game or pay any attention to the commercials. Beyonce's halftime show is all I wanted to see...and it was AWESOME!!!!
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John Fenderson (profile), 5 Feb 2013 @ 10:33am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Not always. There are a great variety of savory scones. It has more to do with the texture and type of leavening.
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Zos (profile), 6 Feb 2013 @ 3:24pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Idiom
coffee is also acceptable
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Dale, 10 Feb 2013 @ 11:19am

Re: Re: Re: Idiom
It's probably the only reasonable way people can eat those nasty things without hurting themselves. Aside of the infamous sickly-sweet white filling, non-dunked Oreos are hard as a sea biscuit... and when you manage to take a bite after all, they crumble into razor-sharp fragments. I suppose Americans got mouths with extra durable lining or something. *grin*
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Feb 2013 @ 6:27pm

Re:
So awesome it caused the blackout
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