Brands launch a feeding frenzy by newsjacking ‘Sharknado 3’
The ‘Super Bowl of TV movie moments’ gets 1.5 billion Twitter impressions, and America chomps popcorn as sharks devour B-list celebrities, pundits and politicians.
Few marketers can claim a logical branding relation to a movie about a monster tornado that sweeps up sharks and sends them rampaging along the East Coast, devouring humanity as they fly.
But that didn’t stop a social media feeding frenzy as managers tried to cash in on this week’s intentionally awful SyFy movie “Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!”
The Twitter craziness was exceeded only by the PR canniness of the producers, whose casting savvy got fans booing and cheering the death or survival of controversial cameo figures such as Jerry Springer, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and disgraced former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner.
“Sharknado 3” was one of the most anticipated TV movies of the year, says Jesse Redniss, co-founder BRaVe Ventures.
“Sharknado 2 claimed the top 10 Twitter trends for a period last year while it aired, and the franchise has become a cultural phenom, so it’s no wonder to see many brands jumping on board and trying to insert themselves in the feeding frenzy,” Redniss says.
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