- joseph a / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA
Usually on Superbowl Sunday, the game and the commercials are what grabs people’s attention. This year however, even for a few minutes, J.C. Penney stole the spotlight on Twitter by posting some tweets that looked as if a kindergardener had taken over the account
Who kkmew theis was ghiong tob e a baweball ghamle. #lowsscorinh 5_0
— JCPenney (@jcpenney) February 2, 2014
Toughdown Seadawks!! Is sSeattle going toa runaway wit h this???
— JCPenney (@jcpenney) February 3, 2014
Seeing the opportunity to reply with a funny comment that also had to do with their product, Doritos and Kia tweeted to J.C. Penney.
Slow down, @jcpenney. Have some #Doritos.
— Doritos (@Doritos) February 3, 2014
Hey @jcpenney need a designated driver?
— Kia Motors America (@Kia) February 3, 2014
Whoever is handling the Twitter accounts for Kia and Doritos should be given a raise. They capitalized on another company’s mistake, cleverly responding to also get in on the spotlight. Twitter was ablaze with these tweets, and instead of watching a very disappointing Superbowl, people on the social media site were entertained by the companies’ responses and J.C. Penney’s inability to write a coherent sentence.
Forty-five minutes after those two tweets were posted, the clothing store then explained why the mistakes were made, by marketing their new “Go USA” Olympic mittens.
Oops…Sorry for the typos. We were #TweetingWithMittens. Wasn’t it supposed to be colder? Enjoy the game! #GoTeamUSA pic.twitter.com/e8GvnTiEGl
— JCPenney (@jcpenney) February 3, 2014
Whether intentional or not, no one believed J.C. Penney’s excuse, but some people responded by applauding them for attempting a marketing ploy. Doritos and Kia took advantage of an opportunity on Twitter, and while being respectful, they successfully drew attention to their products and Twitter page.
Last night was the perfect example as to why marketing and advertising on social media is extremely crucial. For J.C. Penney, they may not have gotten the publicity they had wanted, but in the midst of their mistake they found a way to spread the word about their new mittens. Kia and Doritos on the other hand helped themselves by coming up with funny responses that were tailored to their clientele and industry.
As we all read and saw last night, social media can be your best friend or worst enemy. If it was a marketing ploy by J.C. Penney, it didn’t exactly work, but they did get attention. For the other companies that played a part in the responses to the clothing retailer, they were the winners of the night, as they too got attention and some laughs.