Also known as Agile….but every time I see that word, I can’t help but think of that scene from “A Christmas Story.”
Anyhow, agile marketing has come onto the scene with a vengeance as of late and if your brand is not participating in this form of marketing, then you are really missing the boat. One of the best examples I can think of to illustrate picture-perfect agile marketing is Oreo’s Super Bowl 2013 Dunk in the Dark tweet following the black out during the game.
Obviously, this was a huge success for Oreo, but the key point to remember is that this wasn’t a fluke success for Oreo. The brand has been proactive in integrating social media into its marketing communication strategy for years, so when the blackout opportunity presented itself, Oreo was ready. According to Sarah Hofstetter, president of 360i, Oreo didn’t just wake up and join the conversation for the Super Bowl. Oreo has behaved like a digital brand for years, giving it the foundation to easily adapt.
Agile marketing is not only about going viral – it’s about relevant content at just the right time and spot-on reactions to external influences with real-time marketing happening on much smaller dimensions. Marketers today need to feel the pulse of the current conversations and use those popular and relevant topics to make their messages stand out amongst the clutter.
Some of my favorite examples of this are below:
In response to the much hyped ability for the new iPhone 6 to “bend,” Kit Kat tweeted the following:
Was there anyone in the world that wasn’t aware of Kim Kardashian’s pending nuptials to Kanye West? New York Sports Club took advantage of that trending story:
Moving across the pond, after same sex marriage was legalized in the UK, Virgin Holidays tweeted this image and achieved an incredible 25% engagement rate across Twitter and Facebook.
Any other great examples that I’m missing? Feel free to share your favorites in the comments below.
akatzperspective 
Obsessed with the “A Christmas Story” frag-ee-lay reference. Thank you for that. This is a fantastic post. I love when companies are effective in agile marketing, so thank you for sharing these examples. There are so many occasions where companies completely flop by trying too hard to be agile and tweet about news – like DiGiorno’s #WhyIStayed fail, for example. In that situation, the #WhyIStayed hashtag was referring to survivors of sexual assault or domestic violence who stayed with their oppressor/abuser for too long. However, DiGiorno’s tweet was something along the lines of: “Because he had pizza #WhyIStayed.” So. Awkward. And terrible, too!
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Nice blog, interesting reads!
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Ali,
Great post! It is always fun to see when brand are effectively utilizing agile marketing – and a lot of fun for consumers.
Thanks for providing all of the examples above! In response to your question, here are some examples that came to mind. As you know, the birth of Prince William and Kate’s first born received massive coverage. Many brands took that as an opportunity to get in on the action. Magnum Ice Cream integrated the #MiniRoyal hashtag, sharing a tweet with two of their ice cream bars along with a mini – all wearing crowns ofcourse! Oreo (one of my favorite accounts) also tweeted, “Prepare the royal bottle service” with a bottle of milk on a royal pillow – propped up beside of an Oreo. The last example, I will share (there were many) is of Coca-Cola. The brand used the popular #RoyalBaby hashtag and a nice image of two classic coke bottles clanking together as a toast – “Time for a Royal Celebration”.
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Hi Whitney,
Great article on the use of agile tactics. The Oreo tweet will go down in history as being a textbook example of the form. Other brands seized upon the Super Bowl blackout as well, most notably Tide.
Tide was able to effectively tie-in the incident to their core brand message by tweeting: “We can’t get your blackout, but we can get your stains out”. Both are pure genius. Here is the image link:
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