The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]


If This Is What Ad Age Thinks Is The Best Brand Tweet Of The Year, We’re Doomed …
June 17, 2014, 6:10 am
Filed under: Comment

Before I start, I must thank my blog content curator, John Dodds, for finding this.

I should also point out that I do find the ‘tweet’ in question mildly amusing.

And I should definitely acknowledge that when it came out, it was very topical because it appeared mere hours after Apple purchased Beats By Dre.

[Sorry Baz]

Last but not least … I accept that in terms of ‘brand tweets’, we are woefully short of anything that is interesting, amusing or genuinely informative, so maybe Ad Age are right and this really is the ‘brand tweet of the year’.

What am I talking about? This:

What do you think?

Were Ad Age right?

Were they selling themselves short?

Or were they simply highlighting how flawed most social strategies are because they focus on finding a way to barge into people’s lives and conversations even though no one invited them in and no one cares about what they’re talking about.

As I’ve said many times, the problem with an incredible amount of brands is they scream what they want their audience to care about rather than talking to their audience about what they actually care about … and when you apply that to a medium that too many regard as a tool to deliver ‘cheap advertising’, we are destined for a life of branded digital pollution.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’ve completely missed the point. I certainly acknowledge there are some brands who use social media in an engaging and meaningful way … be it the BBC to Uniqlo to a whole host of brands in-between.

To help you decide, read this article on what a social media manager actually does all day … it’ll make your decision much, much, much easier.


26 Comments so far
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Ad age would like this blog. That says everything about ad ages judgement.

Comment by Billy Whizz

I only said that because that denny’s tweet is of a similar standard to the shit on here.

Comment by Billy Whizz

dennys is fucking way better than the shit on here. its not as old as shitty tasting in the mouth for a start.

Comment by andy@cynic

Surely this place is better than Denny’s … after all, it has you frequent it and that’s way more than can be said about them.

Comment by Rob

consider us the health inspectors and were trying to get you to shut the fuck down.

Comment by andy@cynic

Social media has become the modern equivalent of beer advertising, moving from sponsored jokes to hijacking topical moments with bad puns.

Comment by Pete

Topicality is one thing Rob can never be accused of being.

Comment by DH

Boom Tish.

Comment by Rob

The modern parlance is Newsjacking. Do keep up with the cool kids

Comment by Northern

You’ve changed ever since you went to the media side.

Comment by Pete

Too true, I’ve got even more bored with folks who seriously use phrases like newsjacking

Comment by Northern

How fucked is ad age if they think that’s a good tweet. And how fucked is Denny’s if they spend 3 billion on beets. Explains why their food is shit though.

Comment by DH

Talking of shit, that social media article is stupid. Or hilarious.

Comment by DH

99% of social media strategy is not a strategy. Certainly the example Ad Age have highlighted isn’t, it’s a bad joke designed to desperately try and gain some temporary awareness. That thing digital strategists say is what old media does.
That article is an embarrassment as well. Social media has a place but what is being said in that article and post undermines it rather than raises it’s value.

Comment by George

Well said.

Comment by Pete

what the fuck has got into you? all the shit you had to deal with sitting next to campbell and a fucking social media bollocks post gets you angry. weird fuck.

Comment by andy@cynic

Bloody hell, that really touched a nerve didn’t it. I agree with what you’re saying [though I always agree with what you’re saying] especially the social media article … which I’m sure was meant to be a positive thing, even though it ended up as a cutting expose on ridiculousness.

Comment by Rob

Let’s get this clear. I curate nothing. You feed off the crumbs I charitably throw in your direction.

Comment by John

Sorry John, I forgot we agreed to never mention this in public …

Comment by Rob

now i know what doddsy does. what the fuck do you pay him, shitty gadgets youre bored of after 12 fucking seconds?

Comment by andy@cynic

You know I would never get rid of my gadgets, which is why I’m still using my Texas Instruments calculator from 1982!

Comment by Rob

I thought it was because you were a tight bastard.

Comment by DH

My first calculator was a Rockwell – from the people who built the Space Shuttle. (Which probably explains why it exploded in 1986!)

Comment by Ian Gee

That is such a bad taste, excellent comment.

Sorry, I’m so tired from watching the World Cup I might be over enthusiastic about things.

Comment by Rob

‘Tired from watching the world cup’
All those holidays are really getting on top of you.
As for social media bollocks. lazy shock tactics, promoted tweets or bad topical jokes.
Let’s face it, most advertising is rubbish, it’s just that in social most people have even less patience and can ignore so much better.

Comment by Northern

Sturgeon’s Law applies to advertising, too …

Comment by Ian Gee




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