How Cinnabon became part of the social TV conversation around Breaking Bad

By Natan Edelsburg 

The best brands in the world today have smart and savvy social media teams who are curators, writers, community organizers and always paying attention to what’s happening in pop culture. Just over a week ago as the second to last episode of Breaking Bad aired, Cinnabon heard it was part of the episode and joined the social TV conversation. We interviewed Jonathan Brewer, Director of Awesome for BTC Revolutions the agency that works with Cinnabon.

(Spoiler Alert): As Saul departs the Breaking Bad story for the final time, while discussing how he’s going to disappear and have a new life, he casually exclaims: “Best case scenario, I’m managing a Cinnabon in Omaha.” Social TV conversation around the show instantly erupted over this hilarious line and @Cinnabon was right there to join in tweeting at actor Bob Odenkirk.

 

Not only did people love @Cinnabon’s participation, but it even caused them to make their breakfast choice right then and there.

 

We interviewed Brewer about the experience.

Lost Remote: Why did you decide to tweet about the mention on Breaking Bad and what were the results?
Jonathan Brewer: On Sunday night, during the east coast airing of breaking bad, we saw a considerable number of tweets flowing in reference to a line in Breaking Bad where Saul says: “BEST CASE SCENARIO, IN A YEAR, I’M RUNNING A CINNABON IN OMAHA”.

We also received an email from the marketing team and the president of Cinnabon (Kat Cole) about being mentioned on the show.

Within minutes, our team had found the twitter account to actor Mr. Bob Odenkirk who plays Saul, and proposed a tweet to the team: let us know when you’re ready to talk frosting #breakingbad

This was approved in real time, and sent out. Minutes later, Cinnabon’s team suggested also sending Mr. Odenkirk the link to the Cinnabon careers page, so we crafted a second tweet.

Our team at BTC Revolutions enjoys working with Cinnabon. The real-time approval access we can get from their entire marketing team and the president (Kat Cole) is what makes this work. The results were over 550 retweets, and hundreds of new engagements and followers. Plus, I’m not going to lie: it feels pretty sweet to win the internet for a night.

LR: Why is social TV important for brands?
Brewer: We believe in the second screen and we know people are having conversations in real time around their favorite shows. We want to be a part of a relevant relationship with the fans that make up our brand communities. It’s important that we’re relevant to them in other parts of their lives that aren’t directly brand focused. For example, when another one of our clients airs television commercials during times when our community is watching, we get instant feedback that we’re on their TV. We want to be there for that and respond right away. Twitter doesn’t wait for tomorrow.

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