Teen's Tweet @Wendys Goes Viral With 2 Words

[caption id="attachment_61467" align="alignright" width="300"] Wendy's Twitter avatar[/caption] “18 Million,” @Wendys tweeted. High-schooler Carter Wilkerson took it from there. The teenager from Reno, Nev., created a marketing campaign to gain the number of retweets the fast-food giant requested based on his April 5 query about getting a generous gift of chicken nuggets. https://twitter.com/carterjwm/status/849811828766949376 As of Thursday afternoon, the screenshot Wilkerson pinned to the top of his @carterjwm feed had 2.8 million retweets. https://twitter.com/carterjwm/status/849813577770778624 His aides include Apple and Microsoft — with Microsoft coining the campaign's now-popular hashtag #NuggsForCarter — as well as some passionate fellow consumers. https://twitter.com/Microsoft/status/850454620136546304 https://twitter.com/_bronbarr/status/850761825000017920 https://twitter.com/Rymazing/status/851321426816540674 It seems as though @Wendys picked the right influencer to challenge. Just about every major mainstream media outlet’s done a feature on Wilkerson’s #NuggsForCarter campaign, including Ad Age on April 12 in an article that tracked down the originator of the “18 Million” tweet — Matt Keck, Wendy's community manager at digital agency VML. The headline, “Lowdown: Wendy's Tweet Might Pass Ellen's Famed Oscars Tweet,” helps Wendy’s branding and awareness efforts, as well as its social media marketing efforts. Then there’s this paragraph: “As of midday Wednesday, Mr. Wilkerson's screenshot of his exchange with Wendy's has garnered more than 2.6 million retweets, ranking it as the second-most retweeted tweet, according to Favstar. He only trails Ellen DeGeneres's famous Oscars selfie tweet from 2014, which has 3.35 million retweets. VML projects Mr. Wiklerson's tweet will eclipse Ellen's tweet.” Wilkerson’s campaign is even multichannel, expanding on its impact. From changing his Twitter bio to “I like chicken nuggets, tacos (and cherries) #nuggsforcarter” to adding a link to “nuggsforcarter.com,” the 16-year-old boy seems to have thought of everything. On his site, he sells $20 T-shirts emblazoned with his campaign hashtag, he tells his story on the “How It All Started” page and he allows fans — his fans — to give directly to charity on the “Making a Difference” page. (Proceeds from the T-shirts also go to charity: the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.) It would seem as though the marketing lesson here is to have a product consumers want, interact with influencers and help them if the marketing goes viral in a way that’s advantageous to the brand. (After all, that’s not always the case. Just ask Cracker Barrel about #justiceforbradswife.) Also, Wilkerson's story crosses the line into positive PR, which can become part of a marketing campaign. For instance, chances are UPS won't turn this headline into a marketing win, but it may give the brand a boost: “UPS Delivery Driver Puts Out Fire With a Garden Hose, Warns Two People Inside.” What do you think, marketers? Please respond in the comments section below.

Performance Marketing

Teen's Tweet @Wendys Goes Viral With 2 Words

Heather Fletcher

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Heather Fletcher