• USA Today, Tuesday, January 19, 2010 10:43 AM

The familiar candy hearts from Necco that have been a Valentine's Day tradition since the Civil War will carry a new endearment this year: "Tweet Me." The move accelerates recent commercial tie-ins for the 145-year-old Sweetheart brand, Bruce Horovitz writes, while it's a freebie public relations coup for Twitter.

Patricia Martin, author of Renaissance Generation: The Rise of the Cultural Consumer and What it Means to Your Business, sees the relationship as a harbinger of marketing hook-ups to come. "It's a new way of advertising when two brands get together to create cultural meaning," she says. "That's very different from creating a 30-second TV spot."

In the past, Sweethearts has used "Fax Me," "Email Me," and even "Bite Me" (a tie-in with the "Twilight" film last year). But this year is this year, and Twitter is where the PR potential, as well as cultural meaning, is clearly at.

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