The Jerk Store and Timely Responses to Serendipitous Situations

In the Seinfeld episode, “The Comeback,” George Costanza is at a business meeting gorging on shrimp when a co-worker named Reilly says, “Hey George, the ocean called: they’re running out of shrimp.” At a loss for a witty response, George didn’t think of a comeback until he was on the way home. After going to great lengths to recreate a lunch meeting (including shrimp) with Reilly, George gets Reilly to repeat the original joke and issue his prepared response of, “Well, the jerk store called, and they’re running out of you!”

This same situation applies to how successful companies respond to unpredictable events, including February’s Super Bowl blackout and Senator Rubio’s thirst during the Republican response after President Obama’s State of the Union Address.

Oreo tweeted the below image immediately after the unforeseen Super Bowl incident and quickly became a trending topic. When an unexpected event occurs, there is a delicate timeframe in which a message can find immediate success, and Oreo was able to harness that impact with the “you can still dunk in the dark” image.  

“The team was watching in our social command center to ensure we were prepared for any opportunity that might present themselves upon the brand’s TV spot — and that’s precisely what happened,” Oreo Brand Director Janda Lukin said. “We are always keeping an eye on cultural events and trends using the lens of how Oreo would view them.”

Poland Spring inadvertently shared the limelight with Senator Rubio during his response to the President’s State of the Union Address. Marco Rubio parodies inundated YouTube instantly as the incident began its climb among trending social media topics such as #Rubio, #PolandSpring, and #Water. Poland Spring took 14 hours to respond to the event and that is what led many to criticize them.

Although Poland Spring was criticized for the lag in their response in this Fast Company article; I still think they responded within a sufficient timeframe. The Rubio incident was trending on Twitter for several hours, which helped Poland Spring tremendously. They did not have to respond as quickly because the Republican response to the State of the Union was less of an immediate event than the Super Bowl. Also, the event was trending late into the night and although a response would have been welcome, Poland Spring was justified in waiting until the next day.  For its response, Poland Spring posted an image on the company’s Facebook page of a bottle in front of a vanity mirror as a catchy and active response to what had happened the night before.

Oreo was aware and articulated a timely response and was similar to Reilly in that regard. Meanwhile, Poland Spring was much like George during his predicament; they waited a while but were able to revisit the situation at a later time and orchestrate a proper comeback. Unlike George, Poland Spring didn’t make a fool of themselves in the process. 

Companies who keep their finger on the pulse of social media trends and issue timely responses are better positioned to capitalize on unexpected awareness during major events. When done cleverly, this can be a successful and cost-effective marketing strategy for any brand. Even for the jerk store.