Eager to nibble the pepperoni at any social media pizza party, brands used their Twitter accounts to dive into Uruguay forward Luis Suarez's alleged biting of another World Cup party with relish.
During the 79th minute of the game against Italy, Suarez may have bitten a defender from the Italian national team. But before the game had a chance to go into stoppage time, Twitter was already serving up jokes at Suarez's expense. It wasn't the first time Suarez has been accused of biting another player, nor was it the first time brands have tried to exploit a live event for retweets and favorites to promote themselves.
The trend is called "real time marketing" where companies follow big live events on Twitter and try to insert themselves in the conversation with jokes and quips. That's different from "guerrilla marketing," where brands try to score with consumers while avoiding massive soccer-licensing fees.
The hope is that one of the tweets will strike a chord, as Oreo's "you can still dunk in the dark" image on Twitter famously did during the blackout that occurred during the Super Bowl in 2013. It can range from a single quick-fingered social media account handler to dedicated war room teams for big sports and live entertainment events with the ability to monitor, brainstorm, and execute quick copy and images that riff on spontaneous incidents during the entertainment.
Judging by the nearly 65,000 retweets alone, McDonald's, the first brand to respond, made the biggest meal out of the (alleged) bite felt round the world with its tweet, "Hey Suarez, if you're hungry, come get a bite of a Big Mac."
(Hat tip to Mashable)
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-- By NBC News reporter Ben Popken