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David Miami Water Cooler Creative Twitter

Twitter taps ‘BBC Dad’ for an ad featuring an eruption of interruptions

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By John McCarthy, Opinion Editor

November 18, 2020 | 4 min read

You may not be anywhere near the office water cooler right now, but we still want to spotlight the most talked about creative from the brands that should be on your radar. Today, we‘re looking at Twitter‘s surprise spot featuring world-famous interviewee Robert Kelly.

BBC Dad

Twitter taps 'BBC Dad' for an ad featuring an eruption of interruptions

Twitter has employed work-from-home champion Robert Kelly, (the dad from that BBC News interview with the adorable interrupting children), to showcase its latest features.

In March 2017, Robert Kelly achieved meme status as a result of a few clipped videos on Twitter. He attempts at serious analysis of a South Korean policy debate were interrupted by a curious toddler and a thundering baby in a walker who both burst in live on air.

At the time, Kelly told The Guardian: “For two weeks we were the most famous family on earth. I guess that's an achievement? I don‘t know, it's still just weird more than anything else. It‘s nice to think we made people happy, but it‘s not really the kind of thing you‘d ask for.“

Three years later and the meme endures. Twitter has used Kelly to announce its latest feature, which allows users to restrict who can respond to their tweets (stopping unwelcome interruptions).

David, the agency, were responsible for the work. What do you think David Ogilvy would think of a social network of short thoughts announcing user features with a viral dad?

Carlos Cantu, Twitter EMEA business marketing director, said: “We wanted to create a fun video to remind brands about Twitter’s conversational settings, and there is no one better to talk about unwanted interruptions than BBC Dad, Robert Kelly. We’ve already seen brands use these settings to start and control conversations in a way that wasn't possible before.

"Your Tweet is your space. The new settings are in place to give brands more control over the conversations they start, so unwanted replies don’t get in the way of meaningful conversations.”

While you‘re here, we may as well explain the new Twitter feature. Brands can choose who responds to their tweets, be it everyone, people they follow, or those who follow them. That‘ll help them talk to their base without interruption from the weirder, or more abusive corners of the site.

Haven‘t a clue who BBC Dad is? You‘re in for a treat. Catch up with it below.

David Miami Water Cooler Creative Twitter

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