The Importance of Timeliness

When the power went out during the 2013 Super Bowl, one company took quick decisive action to become the biggest advertising win of the night. It wasn’t done in a multi-million dollar 30-second ad, either. It was done on Twitter by the Oreo division of Nabisco.

Oreo sent a tweet within minutes of the power failing and the game being called to a halt. The tweet simply said, “Power out? No Problem.” This tweet was accompanied by a very simple image with a grey gradient background that featured the words at the bottom, “You can still dunk in the dark.”

Power out? No problem. pic.twitter.com/dnQ7pOgC

— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) February 4, 2013

This single tweet made Oreo possibly the biggest news story of the most important night in advertising. Approximately 16,000 people retweeted the Oreo image. Uncounted millions of people were made aware of it within minutes. To take it a step further, the word-of-mouth response by the media and at water coolers around the country was priceless. It cost Oreo nothing to send the tweet beyond the wages paid to the people responsible for creating the image and sending the message.

Timeliness trumps everything. If you can craft your message around an issue that people are actively talking about in social media, on YouTube, and throughout homes across the country, you have a far greater chance of having your message heard than you would if you came up with a crafty slogan and slapped it on an ad.

Another great example of a timely message is the Cheerios commercial above. General Mills capitalized on a trend that may not appear timely at first glance, but is very relevant to the current climate in the U.S., when it decided to introduce a multi-racial family to a Spring 2013 ad campaign. At a time when the United States is actively discussing what marriage means, this simple Cheerios campaign made headlines because it pushed a boundary that (while controversial to some) did little more than spread the message that Cheerios is good for your heart.

The Cheerios ad became the hot topic on The View, racked up over four million views on YouTube, and created conversation around water coolers throughout the country.

Timeliness may not be the only ingredient to success, but it certainly helps when it comes to making your brand a topic of discussion, and it’s that random conversation between people at work, on social media, and in living rooms around the world that makes the biggest impact.