Oreo plays off Olympic news with real-time strategy

Oreo is leveraging its real-time marketing know-how, and a little good fortune, to show its support for Canada’s Olympic athletes during the Sochi Winter Olympics. The snack brand started its Olympic campaign with a bit of raw luck: an animated ad that features a Canadian female skier winning gold debuted during the opening ceremonies. Less than a day later, Canada was abuzz with the gold medal win for skier Justine Dufour-Lapointe, as well as a silver for her sister Chloe. The English language spot, which was created by Draftfcb, “works well given the Canadian team’s success to date on the hills,” says Vanessa Mosakos, senior brand manager for Oreo at Mondelez Canada. Oreo has been able to amplify that good luck with some real-time marketing that has actually been in the works for months. Oreo is often credited with one of the best examples of real-time marketing, at last year’s Super Bowl when it responded to half-hour-long power outage with its “You can still dunk in the dark” Tweet. “We learned to be successful at unplanned, spontaneous moments by doing a lot of upfront planning and preparation,” says Mosakos. “We have been preparing for these Winter Games for months, and we have every scenario, every possible medal moment, and every possible Tweet/post ready, as well as the internal procedural prowess to be ready.” That preparation is being put to the test now as Oreo focuses on being responsive in social media during the Sochi Games. Its digital and social hub is handled by Draftfcb. This weekend, Oreo “activated against a moment we anticipated,” Mosakos says, with a Tweet celebrating the three Dufour-Lapointe sisters competing in one event. Throughout the games, Oreo is also using a new Twitter feature called “tweet delivery by country” that allows it to send out geo-targeted tweets specifically to Canadian users from the @Oreo handle. Released by Twitter last fall, Oreo is one of the first brands to use it globally. “We have the opportunity to engage with our fans in a uniquely Canadian and culturally relevant way,” says Mosakos. Mondelez is also using its position as a sponsor of the Canadian Olympic Committee to give three other of its leading brands – Cadbury, Dentyne and Ritz – a real-time push. Dentyne used speedskater Charles Hamelin’s victory kiss with his girlfriend to wonder about the freshness of his breath on Twitter. All four brands are supported by the “Pride and Joy” campaign, created by creative agency The Hive for Mondelēz Canada. This article appeared in Marketing magazine.