Dive Brief:
- During game one of the World Series on Tuesday, Twitter ran a TV ad promoting its brand new curated tweet feature Moments.
- The ad was Twitter’s second ever foray into TV marketing and is part of a larger campaign around Moments, which the company is banking on as the solution to its user growth headache.
- The micro-blogging site posted Q3 earnings also on Tuesday, and during the earnings call, it was clear investors did not like Twitter’s revenue forecast or that its user growth is stagnating.
Dive Insight:
The second-ever TV ad spot for Twitter is called “Post Season” and features a series of quick hit clips of playoff baseball highlights as they appeared in tweets. The ad was created by TBWA\Chiat\Day, the firm behind Apple’s “1984” ad for the Macintosh. The TV spot is part of larger campaign around Moments designed to reach people who have never used the platform as well as lapsed users who might not know about some of Twitter’s recent changes, such as the Moments feature.
The campaign kicks off during something of a rough week for Twitter after its earnings call didn’t mollify investors. Even though Twitter beat analysts' revenue growth expectations and posted a 60% increase in ad revenue, investors didn’t like news about lowered guidance on projected revenue and news that its user growth is stagnating. Its stock fell 13% in extended trade Tuesday.
Reviews were mixed about the 30-second spot, and as Digiday points out, the ad wasn't designed for already active, devoted users, but rather to attract new ones.
Twitter CFO Anthony Noto explained to the Verge the idea behind the spot is that by "using their interests as hooks, rather than Twitter itself as the hook" they'll bring in new users.
A spokesperson for TBWA\Chiat\Day told Digiday to expect more commercials in the upcoming weeks, both online and on TV, and as early as this week we could see the next spot.
