When asked what your favorite cookie is, nine times out of ten I guarantee your answer will be Oreo cookies. Personally, I don’t even like chocolate yet my favorite cookie has consistently been Oreo’s since I was younger. My mom always filled our cookie jar with Oreo’s. It was a nightly ritual sitting around the table, with our glass of milk dunking our Oreo’s, which I am sure is an event many of you can relate to.
Surprisingly enough, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the cookie brand. To celebrate, Kraft Foods, which makes Oreo cookies, along with a team of agencies, created a campaign called, “Daily Twist.” The campaign offers a humorous, eye-catching ad each day posted to Oreo’s Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest pages, in addition to oreo.com. The campaign, which started on June 25th, spans the course of 100 days.
What makes these ads different is that they are made in “real-time,” meaning that they all feature subjects relevant to the date of its release. The campaign demonstrates efforts by marketers to acknowledge social media, which has increased expectations for content to be delivered instantaneously. The ads are meant to show how relevant Oreo’s are in today’s world by commenting on current events.
To date, subjects have included gay pride month, the introduction of the Apple iPhone 5, Talk Like a Pirate Day, the Emmy Awards, the five Olympic gold medals won by the U.S. female gymnasts, etc.
The campaign culminates on October 2nd with the creation of a temporary ad agency opened at 8 a.m. on Broadway and 46th Street in Times Square. The American Eagle Outfitters billboard will serve as the Oreo billboard for the event. The agency will create the final ad live, based on ideas submitted by individuals in person and through social media. The ideas will be submitted from 8 to 10 a.m. and then from 10 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., Oreo representatives will narrow the options to eight submissions and sketch the proposed ads. At 12:15 p.m., three finalists will be posted on the American Eagle Outfitters billboard and on Facebook for the public to vote on. The winner will be announced at 2 p.m. The event will continue with giveaways until 4 p.m.
As a public relations professional, I think this campaign is extremely clever and exciting. The ads are so simple and unique that it immediately catches your attention.
However as great as the ads are, the campaign hasn’t received any exposure, in the form of media attention and consumer awareness. The campaign peaked on June 25th with the launch of the controversial gay pride Oreo ad but could not maintain that level of excitement in the following days.
After polling my public relations class, only one person out of 25 had heard of this campaign and after doing a Google search, I found very few articles mentioning it, which shows the campaign wasn’t as successful as it could have been.
This campaign only focused on social media, which was a mistake. As powerful as social media is, the campaign proves it is not a tactic that should be used alone. Having these ads in newspapers and magazines would have further increased visibility and consumer involvement.
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Zoey Topper is an assistant account executive at HJMT PR.
