Brands capitalize on #PresidentialAlert

On Wednesday, October 3 at 11:14 a.m. 225 million American cell phone users all received an alert from President Trump. The first of its kind, the Wireless Emergency Alert System is a newly adopted communication system that can only be used in the event of a national emergency and reserved for the President to issue these warnings. The test was successful, however, within minutes of the alert a hashtag was born #PresidentialAlert.

Many brands such as AMC’s show Walking Dead, NBC, and Pizza Hut among others that capitalized on this media opportunity by having pre-developed meme’s ready for the October 3rd alert. Once the warning went live, social media managers took to their perspective brands Twitters account as was the case with Walking Dead. The Walking Dead Twitter handle (Twitter.com/WalkingDead_AMC) sent out a Tweets seconds after. The image included an Iphone with a background photo of Rick (the show’s main character and his family). Then a message box identical to the #PresidentalAlert that read: “URGENT Message: VIRUS OUTBREAK. Avoid infected and dead at all costs. Remain calm. Help is on the way.” This played on the premise of the show that tells the story years later after a deadly outbreak that kills millions infect the United States. The Ellen DeGeneres show also sent a hilarious Tweet: “Ellen is hilarious today. Check your local listings.”

Currently, it is unknown the number of social media impressions that these meme’s received. However, I am confident that it is in the millions. As Ellen’s meme on Twitter generated 18.8 thousand likes and had almost 2,000 people talking about this. This is an excellent example of how as marketers we must always know what is in the news as we can always capitalize on these type of opportunities to generate positive PR if done right.

References:

Fung, B. (2018, October 04). Cellphone users nationwide just received a ‘Presidential Alert.’ Here’s what to know. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/10/03/millions-cellphone-users-are-about-get-presidential-alert-heres-what-know/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.172c957dedfb

Winchel, B. (2018, October 05). Brand managers turn to Twitter with ‘presidential alert’ memes. Retrieved from https://www.prdaily.com/marketing/Articles/25129.aspx