While officials and technicians scrambled to repair the
power outage at Sunday's Super Bowl, advertisers took to social media during the game to capitalize on the extra promotion time.
Walgreen's, Oreo, and Tide were just a few savvy businesses to take advantage of the 33-minute blackout that occurred early in the third quarter of the game between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers.
"Power out? No problem," Oreo tweeted, with an accompanying ad that said, "You can still dunk in the dark."
Tide's message said: "We can’t get your #blackout, but we can get your stains out."
"We do carry candles," Walgreen's reminded its followers.
Meanwhile, Audi used the opportunity to take a hit at one of its competitors — Superdome naming rights-holder Mercedes-Benz.
Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University, told
Forbes on Sunday that the rapid-fire response is necessary for brands to stay competitive.
"This is an example of the new world of marketing where things happen so fast, where brands respond real time to the environment," Calkins said. "What was nice about the power outage is everybody jumped on their mobile devices when the power went out and everybody started talking about the game but more so about the ads, which was a positive development because it gave the early advertisers an even bigger impact."
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