Oreo debuted its new advertising campaign with a Super Bowl ad on Sunday that ended with a call to action using the fastest-growing social media platform. While the television ad (featured above) was entertaining and memorable, Oreo truly shined with its on-the-fly capitalization of arguably the most talked about moment of Super Bowl XLVII (featured below).
The Super Bowl ad itself, titled “Whisper Fight,” is a clever take on libraries’ notorious “no talking” policy, while also addressing a common disagreement among Oreo eaters. In the ad, people fight over which is the best part of the Oreo – the cookie or the crème. One of the most interesting parts of the ad was the call to action at the end, which told consumers to “choose your side on Instagram.”
Many major companies have Instagram accounts and are very active on the medium. However, Oreo looks to be using the two-year-old medium on a different level with an interactive marketing campaign. When you visit Oreo’s Instagram page, you’re then told to tag your photo with your choice using the hashtags #cookiethis or #cremethis. Oreo’s artists will then take your picture and make it from the part of the Oreo you’ve chosen. For instance, a quick scan of the company’s Instagram page will show you a sculpture of cats made of crème, a portrait of a bearded man made of cookie, a set of kissing lips made of crème and even a slice of pizza on a plate using crème, among many others.
The Instagram campaign is on-going but Oreo’s most talked about ad on Super Sunday is the one they posted on their Twitter page (seen below). Just minutes after the infamous Super Bowl blackout in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Oreo sent out the tweet below. Say what you will about the ad design, but the most impressive part is the minimal amount of time that passed from idea, to execution, to approval.
Power out? No problem. twitter.com/Oreo/status/29…
— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) February 4, 2013
Other companies tried to capitalize on the blackout through social media on Sunday, but none of them experienced the success of Oreo, which produced an actual graphic ad. According to various reports and the company itself, Oreo’s ad team took just five minutes to make the ad. The ad was approved quickly because marketing executives from Mondelez International, Oreo’s parent company, were watching the game together with 360i, its digital ad agency in New York, ready to pounce on any opportunity.
Due to Oreo’s success with both ads, released through different platforms, don’t be surprised to see more companies using interactive marketing campaigns through Instagram. And definitely don’t be surprised if corporate marketing watch parties become the norm for companies during the Super Bowl or any other popular television event.
