Commentary

Domino's Targets TV Watchers on Twitter

Everyone’s talking about the “second screen” phenomenon and “social viewing,” but how exactly do you advertise stuff to TV watchers using social media? Domino’s Pizza, staple of televisual dining around the world, tackled the challenge in the U.K. by using Twitter data about TV-related conversations to target viewers with TV-themed promoted tweets aligned with Domino’s broadcast spots.

The Domino’s campaign, created in collaboration with Adaptly, scanned the Twittersphere for tweets and conversations surrounding destination TV programming as it aired, including “The X-Factor,” “Strictly Come Dancing,” “I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here,” and, of course, soccer -- sorry, make that football -- and rugby games.

According to Adaptly president Sean O’Neal, whenever Twitter data indicated that someone was watching a program that included Domino’s TV spots -- including conversations about actors, producers, directors, or “anything else that’s topical around the program” -- Domino’s would “amplify” the TV ad with promoted tweets presenting pizza as an indispensable adjunct to the communal TV viewing experience, using the hashtag #BigNightIn.

O’Neal explained: “They’re watching the programs, where they’re exposed to the TV ad, and then they’re exposed to really engaging, funny, and creative on Twitter,” including quizzes, puzzles, games, and humorous observations. In terms of creative, O’Neal said tweets with visual content seemed to be more engaging than tweets with text only, perhaps reflecting the visual mindset of TV watchers.

As might be expected, coordinating the TV and social components requires particular attention to timing. Here O’Neal noted, “You can either deliver ads concurrently, where you’re delivering the same ad or messaging or creative at the same time as the TV spot, or you can deliver ads in a more sequential fashion, where a certain message is delivered in the TV ad, and then Twitter delivers more follow-up messages.” Ultimately the #BigNightIn campaign produced over 24,000 mentions for @Dominos_UK, with over three million impressions, according to Adaptly.

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