Brands such as Oreo, Audi and Tide turn to Twitter to capitalise on Super Bowl #blackout

Last night, during the third quarter of the 2013 Super Bowl, there was a 20 minute power outage, haulting the game, and sending the TV audience to their phones to discuss what was happening. Some savvy brands were quick to realise the marketing potential that the blackout offered them.

Stain removal brand Tide and cookie brand Oreo both quickly sent out pulled together adverts – the Tide advert claiming that ‘We can’t get your blackout. But can get your stains out.’ The tweet and the advert was retweeted heavily, as was Oreo’s advert that told the audience ‘You can still dunk in the dark’.

The US Figure Skating twitter feed sent out a YouTube video link using the #blackout hashtag to point the audience towards the highlights from this year’s US Championships while they waited for the problem to be solved, but Audi sent probably the cheekiest tweet of all:

“@Audi – Sending some LEDs to the @MBUSA Superdrome right now…” was its message, referencing rival Mercedes Benz, the naming rights holder to the host Superdome.

Some of this year’s Super Bowl adverts can be viewed here, including adverts by GoDaddy, Hyundai and Lincoln.