Oreo Super Bowl Blackout Tweet — I (Leo Morejon) Was in the Room

The Work of Dunking in the Dark:

I (Leo Morejon) led Oreo social media marketing internationally for three years while at the Award-Winning Digital Marketing Agency 360i.

For a deeper look at how Oreo built the social media muscle that made this moment possible, read the Oreo Social Media Strategy breakdown →

Focusing on team leadership, community management, copywriting and strategy, I pioneered rapid-response, real-time social media marketing.

My team's innovative work led to the now-famous Oreo Super Bowl Blackout Tweet.

What is the Oreo Super Bowl Blackout Tweet?

On February 3, 2013, during Super Bowl XLVII, the Oreo social media marketing team made advertising history with the "Oreo Super Bowl Blackout Tweet."

Before the Blackout Tweet came years of history-making work. My team held the first-ever Guinness World Record in social media — "Most Likes on Facebook in a 24-Hour Period" (February 15, 2011). That track record of real-time creativity is exactly what made the Blackout Tweet possible.

The Oreo Super Bowl Blackout Tweet occurred shortly after the lights at the stadium suddenly and unexpectedly went out.

While the stadium was covered in darkness and confusion, my team and I saw an opportunity to make cultural commentary and to jump into the national conversation with relevance and speed.

Thanks to years of previous experience, including coaching my clients at Oreo on social media, selecting the right teams, and understanding almost everything there is to know about Oreo cookies, my team and I were able to react with the necessary speed and skill to create this legendary tweet.

Almost immediately after the lights went out, the team connected eyes, and, almost like magic, with few words communicated among them, the team knew exactly what to do and quickly went into content creation mode.

Team members, including Sebastian Saldarriaga and Lexie Perez, were at the keys, Kevin Vuong was watching screen displaying of real-time metrics, and the creative team developed the image.

Then, within minutes, the Oreo social media team posted the following Tweet.

Shortly after, the internet and the world took notice.

What were the results of the Oreo Super Bowl Blackout Tweet?

• Cannes Lion (Cyber Bronze) + CLIO Award (Innovative Media Bronze) — among other industry awards
• In one hour: 10,000+ Retweets, 18,000+ Likes, 5,000+ Shares
• Myriad of headlines in Over 100 countries
• Countless annoyed marketers, that now always hear it referenced and are asked, "What's our Oreo Blackout Moment," "Can we do what Oreo did during the Super Bowl?"

What are myths around the Oreo Super Bowl Tweet?

1. There was paid media: There was zero paid media for the Tweet.

2. Oreo was the first to Tweet about the blackout: Other brands beat Oreo to the punch, including Calvin Klein, and many other brands, like Tide, also jumped at the opportunity.

3. The Oreo social team was in the room expecting moments like this: The team's original reason for being together that night was to support an activation, run by another agency, where fans could send in their photos and a staff of sculptors would sculpt the image using Oreo cream. The image would then be shared on Instagram.

4. One person can take credit: Heck no, besides all the people in the room, countless people worked on developing the Oreo team's real-time marketing muscle, and countless people throughout 100+ years worked to develop the brand's global awareness. There were about 10 people in the room.

How can my brand reproduce the Oreo Super Bowl Tweet in 2026?

It can't fully. To name a few factors, Oreo is a 100+ years old brand and social media was in a different place back then.

However, there is a lot to benefit from real-time social media and understanding more about what made the Oreo Super Bowl Blackout Tweet possible, and for that reach out to Leo Morejon.

Where can I find a video case study of the Oreo Super Bowl Blackout Tweet?

FAQs – The Oreo Blackout Tweet