In June, Twitter announced a new feature for potential advertisers: purchasing trending topics. That means, when people use your hashtag, they see your advertisement or sponsored tweet at the top of the list, no matter what it might be. Advertisers were slow to latch onto this, but one group has pounced and picked up a hot hash tag. The Onion has bought the Twitter trending hashtag #BCS in the run-up to the BCS title game between the Auburn Tigers and Oregon Ducks.
Not coincidentally, on the day after the BCS National Championship Game, The Onion’s new program, The Onion SportsDome, will debut on Comedy Central. What does the purchase of the Twitter trend mean? Well, long story short, it means that whenever someone uses #BCS, the top response will be a tweet from The Onion SportDome that reads, “Yes, Onion Sports Network and #SportsDome now own #BCS. Take that, Tostitos.”
I have to admit, as marketing stunts go, it’s a pretty good one. #BCS is going to be a huge trending topic, and for a sports show to take out that kind of ad is genius. Almost Old Spice Guy genius. Adblock will block normal ads, but not a sponsored tweet.
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