It’s a fact: everyone including your grandma is on Twitter. Which is exactly why brands look at big events—like last night’s Grammys—as a perfect marketing opportunity. Everyone wants that big Twitter/social media win, which is millions of dollars cheaper than ads or sponsorships, but a lot harder to pull off.
Which is why last night, Arby’s took the opportunity to make the very accurate assertion that Pharrell’s hat looked a little too familiar.
Hey @Pharrell, can we have our hat back? #GRAMMYs
— Arby’s (@Arbys) January 27, 2014
Notice the whopping 75,592 (and counting) retweets. Now that type of marketing, though 100% free (besides the sunk cost of the social media manager’s salary), is nothing to scoff at.
Oreo’s 2013 Super Bowl “You can still dunk in the dark” tweet is another famous example of food brands harnessing the power of social media as a marketing tool. It became one of the most memorable advertising moments of a game that a lot of people watch just to see multi-million dollar commercials.
Arby’s tweet at Pharrell caught fire so quickly that other brands tried to piggyback off the power move:
Well played, @Arbys. Well played. #GRAMMYs #HyundaiTweetAwards pic.twitter.com/xGBT3lmPbm
— Hyundai USA (@Hyundai) January 27, 2014
#Win RT @Arbys Hey @Pharrell, can we have our hat back? #GRAMMYs
— Pepsi™ (@pepsi) January 27, 2014
But the best thing that came out of the timely Tweet, beside a boatload of free marketing for Arby’s, was the jokes parody it inspired. Here are some of our favorite Tweets/memes inspired by the Arby’s “Pharrell’s hat” tweet:
#pharrellshat #pharrelwilliams #TheGrammys pic.twitter.com/2gcmcY3a2Z
— JonOne (@DJJonOne) January 27, 2014
Coming soon… #PharrellsHat pic.twitter.com/R2NQJhwAKf
— Pharrells Hat (@PharrellsHat) January 27, 2014
Love. #PharrellsHat pic.twitter.com/haIxBf1cKb
— Yahoo Maktoob Ents (@YahooEntsME) January 27, 2014
Not Sure Dirty Dan or Pharrell? pic.twitter.com/yOlthWIWHA
— no (@tbhstop) January 27, 2014