Brands in Australia have yet to truly embrace Twitter as a real time marketing platform, but the social network is hoping new resaerch will be the push to get brands to create their own 'Oreo moments'.
It has commissioned Australia-specific research ahead of the Cricket World Cup on how people will use Twitter to engage with the event, and how brands can in turn engage with them.
The key stats include:
The research was commissioned by Twitter Australia and carried out by TNS Singapore. Twitter Australia's head of sport, Jonno Simpson, told AdNews that hopefully the new numbers would help brands understand the opportunities presented by having the Cricket World Cup in Australia.
“Anecdotally, during summer you can see cricket really dominate the Twitter landscape when it comes to sport,” Simpson said.
“Cricket is one of those sports where there's no state allegiances, everybody loves watching on Boxing Day, and the sport itself and the way it's structured really fits into tweeting habits.”
With the Cup being played on Australian soil, interest in the tournament is going to be enormous, and Twitter is pitching its role in the conversation around the tournament.
“What the research does is allows us to have that conversation from an informed position and gives brands an insight into the reach they can achieve,” Simpson said.
“The great thing is that as a brand, you don't need massive marketing budgets around it. If you're creative and able to tap into the moment, you can be massively effective with basically no outlay.”
You would have thought that this would have been a “well, duh” moment, but Simpson said while some Australian brands had done Twitter marketing well, most had yet to scratch the surface of what can be done.
“Australian brands probably haven't taken full advantage of that yet, but there are a couple of brands who have done it really well,” Simpson said.
He said the likes of Commonwealth Bank, Sportingbet, and Toyota had done good things around cricket and the AFL, but there was yet to be a breakthrough Australia Twitter campaign everybody could point to as an example of what could be done.
“I guess everybody holds up that Oreo example of the perfect execution on Twitter, and how being timely, relevant, and plugging into the conversation can have a massive impact,” Simpson said.
“You think of the news coverage that got, and Oreo really didn't have to spend a huge amount of money to get that.”
Oreo got massive traction on Twitter (and free advertising) by tweeting during the SuperBowl in 2013. When the lights went out, and fans turned to Twitter to figure out what the hell was going on, Oreo put out the following tweet:
Twitter is hoping the study it commissioned will start a conversation in the marketing teams of Australian brands.
“What we're really hoping through this study is to demonstrate that there is an audience there, that campaigns can work in our space,” Simpson said.
“It's all well and good for us to tell you anecdotally what's happening, but to actually have a few statistics around it means we can start to have an in-depth conversation about it.”
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.