Oreo Cookies
Who loves Oreo cookies? I certainly am an Oreo lover. Do you know over 362 Billion Oreo cookies have been made, and eaten, since it was created back in 1912—and this numbers still grows every day. The Reo cookie is basically two chocolate disk cookies connected by a sweet crème filling in the middle. I’m salivating just thinking about it. In 1975, variations of the cookie emerged with different color cookies and double stuffs not to mention the seasonal covered cookies to celebrate Christmas and Halloween.
Through the years, the Oreo cookie was marketed in many different ways that was consistent with marketing practices associated with the times during its life. Recently, the marketing has taken to the social media phenomenon that has exploded in the last decade or so. Oreo currently can be found on the web, with Twitter, Facebook, You Tube, and Instagram.
Obviously the product is the Oreo cookie. The Target audience is any cookie lover especially the thousands fans that follow the product, but they use different promotions to target individual groups like sports fans, females who love to bake, and students who like to “play” in the social media arena. The solution is to engage the public in conversation about their product and the many different ways it can be used to create more sales of the product. Their efforts make me want to eat an Oreo cookie!
The biggest success Oreo had in social media was during the Super Bowl. They kept a team of people ready to take advantage any situation that could arise in order to get publicity during one of the most premier events that happens every year. When the power went out during the game, and there was a 30 minute delay in play, Oreo tweeted, “You can still dunk in the dark” free of charge when companies were paying millions of dollars for 30 second times slots for advertising. Twitter erupted and the brand’s audience immediately engaged and re-tweeted the message 10,000 times. Facebook earned 18,000 likes and 5,000 shares within the first hour of the tweet. What a social media success!
I know you have already stopped reading this as the urge to dunk hit you and you are off to find some Oreo’s. However this is the perfect example of the power of social media. Known as “The Oreo Blackout Tweet”, the cookie received weeks’ worth of publicity and more than 525 million earned impressions which was five times the viewing audience of the actual Super Bowl game at the cost of zero media dollars! Great job my little cookie friend—heading to the cookie jar now for some sweet satisfaction!
Hi Henry,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this story. This truly is a social media success story. What a great idea! Oreo quickly saw the opportunity and acted on it at a time when there was a captive audience with nothing else to do. Who wouldn't want to dunk in the dark?!
Meg
Hi Henry,
ReplyDeleteThis is great. When you get a moment, check out Oreo's packaging in 1915.
When that box proved bulky, Oreo transitioned to a blue tin. The Oreo shows the design of cookie in its earliest days. Since then the chocolate wafer design has changed just twice.
Thanks for sharing!
Catina
This is a great illustration of the reach that is possible through social media and how it can quickly outpace traditional advertising media such as TV commercials. This was talked about in the book and is a good real life, real company example.
ReplyDelete-Katie Eckert
Henry,
ReplyDeleteI was going to write about the Superbowl Tweet as well!
This is a great example of a company utilizing the power of social media to re-act and capitalize on a pop culture event. A blackout at the Superbowl that didn't result in any injuries is a great way to promote the brand. Then theres companies that went on social media after hurricane Sandy announcing "Sandy Sales." This goes to show that not every event can be tied to a marketing tactic thus, advertisers need to think twice before they use a current events in their marketing efforts.
Henry,
ReplyDeleteThis was extremely well written and sucked me in immediately! You really can connect with the majority of the American public with the love of Oreos. It's also so impressive how much coverage the Oreo got during the Superbowl, very talented PR reps on their end.
Thanks for sharing!