After the confetti cleared from Super Bowl XLVII, cj Advertising joined the chorus of cheers for Oreo’s Dunk in the Dark Twitter ad.
The “tweet heard ‘round the world” was well-timed, beautifully executed, and best of all, free. Oreo just stuck it out there and the Twitterverse gobbled it up. So is this another victory for social media marketing? Yes and no. Because keep in mind, this tweet is nothing without the television event that gave it life.
In that sense, it’s really a shining example of Social TV—a trend that the Social TV Lab at the Wharton School defines as “the current integration of social media interaction with television programming.” Or as the rest of us know it, surfing the Web in front of the tube.
According to a Nielsen report, the trend is growing. Around 41% of tablet owners and 38% of smartphone owners use their devices daily while in front of their TV. And nearly a quarter of all adults 18-34 use social media to actively comment on what they watch. Those incredible numbers are drawn from data generated by mega-events like American Idol, The Voice, and yes, the Super Bowl.
That’s great for giant corporations and national brands, but what does that leave for personal injury firms—small businesses limited by sensible budgets and state bar rules that only permit them to advertise where they practice?
Take a look at the upper left corner of “4 Fast Response,” a recent commercial we produced for William Mattar Law Offices in New York. One of the many visual components that ties this spot to the rest of the campaign is a small detail with enormous potential—the visual inclusion of the firm’s newest Twitter hashtag #4helpingpeople.
The sentiment behind #4helpingpeople reinforces William Mattar’s existing slogan “Helping People… It’s What We Do” and capitalizes on the firm’s strong social media presence by offering a memorable handle for future campaigns and public relations initiatives. Basically, anytime the firm does something people like, whether in person, on air, or in print, this hashtag gives them a social media platform to comment on it.
#4helpingpeople just recently hit air, so we can’t predict what will come of it. But we do know that since more and more people are toggling between television and social media, it’s a good idea to hit ‘em on both fronts.
Bravo, William Mattar! #4helpingpeople is smart, simple, and free. And if we learned anything from the Oreo success story, why not?
