A Social Media Success Story: How Oreos became the Creme of the Social Media Crop
Laurel Simon | @mslaurelsimon If you were able to ask everyone from the last 100 years to name their favorite cookie, Oreo would surely be on top. Ask any marketing company what brand has the most successful social media campaigns, the iconic Oreo is at the top as well. How does a 100 year-old brand stay relevant and engaging? By thinking outside of the cookie jar, of course.
To celebrate Oreo turning 100 last June, Kraft celebrated in a very unique way. The “Daily Twist” campaign caught the attention of millions by featuring eye-catching and whimsical Oreos every day on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. The ingenious part was that each ad was uniquely relevant and highlighted significant occurrences such as Elvis Presley Week, Gay Pride, and even Talk Like a Pirate Day. Prior to the campaign, Facebook interactions averaged about 7,000 comments per post. After the campaign, they averaged over 14,000!
Since the success of “The Daily Twist”, Kraft has created other blockbuster social media crusades using many other social media channels. These days, having a team of marketing pros on hand to tweet out during the Super Bowl is a must have for any large brand. But during the 3rd quarter of the game a power outage occurred, and the 15-person social media team reacted instantaneously by tweeting, “Power out? No problem” with an image of a darkly lit Oreo and the words, “You can still dunk in the dark”.
With more than 15,000 re-tweets and 20,000+ Facebook likes, it seems Oreo won the Super Bowl that day.Kraft then launched an Instagram creme vs. cookie contest. They challenged their fans with this: “It’s go time! We’ve got a warehouse full of OREOS ready to be turned into cookie masterpieces or creme works of art. Choose a side and then tag your photo #cookiethis or #cremethis — we might just recreate it using your favorite part of the OREO. Good luck!”
Oreo found artists who took fan submission photos and turned them into works of creme or cookie art. Oreo’s Instagram account only took a few days to grow from just over 2,000 to more than 56,000!
So, it seems that this old centenarian brand is just getting warmed up in the world of social media. Kraft has found the secret recipe for engaging their fans through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and more. Can’t wait to see what they cook up next!