To celebrate my viral hit The Artistifier which we created to newsjack the Oscars a few years ago, I gleaned the above 28 tips from looking at thousands of #TheOscars2015 tweets. I selected 60 of the best and worst examples.

1. 28
Tips
For
Brands
From
60
Hilarious,
Average
and
Downright
Awful
#TheOscars2015
Tweets

2. @jonburkhart
GIVEN: Regular folk used pictures and emojis and were
way funnier than brands. It’s important to establish what
good content is before you see some of the shocking
brand tweets I’ve got on tap for you.

3. @jonburkhart
GIVEN: Regular folk (and some stand-up comics) were
WAY funnier than brands. Junior copywriters should be
trained in improv comedy or we’ll all keep losing.

4. GIVEN: Celebrities won Twitter with their funny and
snarky comments.
@jonburkhart

5. That Samsung-sponsored selfie from last year was
IMPOSSIBLE to replicate.

6. Yet brands still planned their product porn around that
selfie moment from last year. It didn’t work.

7. Some brands were able to get tweets out in real-time
based on the acceptance speeches. These tweets
worked well. Nothing too mind-blowing though.
@jonburkhart

8. Brands like Dove proved that you can PLAN a real-time
CAMPAIGN around an event and WIN. This campaign
was based on an insight about how women talk about
themselves and resonated with the entire world.

9. Brands continued to surprise us with how shockingly
bad their tweets could be.
@jonburkhart

10. Tempted to put some red rope & carpet around your
product? This is the laziest thing you could ever do. This
is a huge turn-off. Customers don’t reward laziness.

11. While picture tweets are preferable, text-only tweets that
paint pictures in your mind (esp pics of Julie Andrews in
a dress made of meat) work well too.
@jonburkhart

12. It’s okay to create content for TV viewers and even use
the familiar “Bingo format” if you make it really really fun
or ideally really really funny (see right.)

13. Look for social brands to name-check. If you’ve got a
much-loved brand like LEGO at the event, focus your
energies on finding a natural connection to them

14. If you can create a memorable experience, you will win
big. Last year, it was Ellen’s epic selfie. This year, celebs
were given Oscar statuettes made of LEGO.

15. If you’ve got an incredible library of images that no one
else has, you can get away with shoe-horning your brand
into many scenarios that wouldn’t work for other brands.

16. You have 12-24 hours after the event to show your
brilliance so don’t be afraid to bring the converted (your
email list) into the conversation
@jonburkhart

17. If your intern suggests you make an Oscar-worthy dress
out of your logoed napkins, don’t say “it’s all about the
execution” and allow it happen. Know in advance that
this will have 50 shades of wrong about it.

18. Go behind the scenes and fans will feel like you’ve
let them into your VIP section. They need to feel
special. Always be thinking in DVD extras.

19. Creating video in real-time is crucial. GIFs, Vines, 15-
second Instagram films work well if they’re done really
well. I couldn’t find any shareable video for The Oscars.

20. If you’re a sports brand, the Oscar link is tenuous at
best. If your players can deliver a favourite film line in an
entertaining way, then go for it. If they’re only brilliant at
playing ice hockey, then maybe avoid it.

21. Lady Gaga in red Marigolds? Hey Freudenberg, your
product could have been a “Hey Gaga can we have our
gloves back” Arby’s & Pharell style winner. Release red
gloves asap and still get the world’s attention?
@jonburkhart

22. Please resist the temptation to shoe-horn your product
into an Oscar situation in a mindless way. Your
customers have very finely tuned bull-shit-o-meters.

23. It’s always better to have a legitimate tie-in to the live
event. Even if it’s a bit random like Dolby, it will make
sense to your fans and they won’t hate you for it.

24. Product demos that feel natural work really well. Asking
Google these two questions felt really right.
@jonburkhart

25. Sometimes just being interesting is enough. This could
be a product demo or a fun celeb or film location fact.
@jonburkhart

26. The Oscars is a great opportunity for charities to look for
chances to naturally promote their causes.
@jonburkhart

27. If you’re going to steal a scene, do it in a clever not
clunky way. If you don’t, it comes off as desperate.
@jonburkhart

28. Even financial brands can find connections with The
Oscars as long as they don’t try too hard. It’s best to
focus on being useful and interesting. The bank
appearances in films is half-interesting for me.
@jonburkhart

29. Not every brand can ride a meme. Paddy Power fans expect
this sort of thing, but keep in mind that these posts are
definitely below average for such a disruptive brand.
@jonburkhart

30. To newsjack The Artist winning the best picture Oscar a
few years ago, Jon Plackett and I created an interactive site
where you could “Artistify” any YouTube film. It went viral
and was featured in David Meerman Scott’s Real-time
Marketing And PR book as well as another book…

31. The Artistifier featured in my book Newsjacking: The
Urgent Genius of Real-time Advertising, co-written
with Grant Hunter. For more information on my
workshops, tweet me at @jonburkhart.