Only days ago, skeptics might have thought Oreo's famous Super Bowl tweet last year was a fluke, due to so many real-time marketing misses following the cookie brand's big moment. But Arby's huge Grammy win last Sunday—with its poke at Pharrell Williams' hat—seems to suggest that catching lightning in a bottle is a possibility whenever Twitter users are glued to their TVs.
The fast food chain's clever play picked up nearly nine times the number of tweets and favorites (132,000 total) of Oreo's social triumph.
"Because [the hat image] fit the brand amazingly well, there was no desperation to it," said Victor Pineiro, strategy director at Big Spaceship. "It wasn't done awkwardly. I am interested to see all the brands and agencies in this year's game—there's going to be a lot more of them—and how they deal with the meme-worthy moments."
Indeed, everyone wants a real-time piece of Super Bowl 2014. And while the number of participants may seem endless, the lion's share are new to real-time social in the game.
Here, six agencies and brands that will test their Super Bowl chops for the first time by way of dedicated social media war rooms. (The question: How many of these names will be on our lips after Sunday's on-the-field action ends?)
1. Huge will be at the ready in its Brooklyn headquarters on behalf of automaker Audi, utilizing Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter. The digital shop will also turn the Facebook and Twitter knobs for Cap'n Crunch.
2. AKQA will orchestrate real-time social for Bud Light at the Bud Light Hotel, the beer's cruise-ship brand activation on the Hudson.
3. Yoplait will be waiting to pounce at its HQ with a dedicated operation and in-house team. Given the turf battles that have ensued this week in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood, the brand might see some head-to-head Twitter friction with rivals Dannon and Chobani.
4. Mindshare will look to work its social magic for Super Bowl advertiser Jaguar.
5. The City of Omaha's tourism team will aim to create buzz whenever Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning yells his "Omaha! Omaha!" pre-snap count throughout the big game.
6. Adobe will also test the B-to-B real-time waters with its first war room.
Hey @Pharrell, can we have our hat back? #GRAMMYs
— Arby's (@Arbys) January 27, 2014
Power out? No problem. pic.twitter.com/dnQ7pOgC
— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) February 4, 2013