I ran Oreo cookie's social media accounts at 360i for three years. I was on the team behind the Blackout Tweet during Super Bowl XLVII. Here's what actually happened in the room that night, and what gets retold wrong about it.
For a deeper look at how Oreo built the social media muscle that made this moment possible, read the Oreo Social Media Strategy breakdown →
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 work that taught the team how to move fast under pressure. We 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 Blackout Tweet went up shortly after the lights at the stadium unexpectedly went out.
While the stadium was covered in darkness and confusion, the team and I saw an opportunity to jump into the national conversation with relevance and speed.
Years of practice paid off in a few minutes. Coaching the Oreo brand team on social, building the right team at 360i, and knowing almost everything there is to know about Oreo cookies meant we could react fast without thinking about it. The reflexes did the work.
Almost immediately after the lights went out, the team connected eyes, said almost nothing, and went into content creation mode.
Sebastian Saldarriaga and Lexie Perez were at the keys. Kevin Vuong was watching the real-time metrics dashboard. The creative team developed the image. The brand team approved it.
Within minutes, the Oreo social media team posted the following tweet. The internet noticed shortly after.
What were the results of the Oreo Super Bowl Blackout Tweet?
- Cannes Lion (Cyber Bronze) and CLIO Award (Innovative Media Bronze), among other industry awards.
- In one hour: 10,000+ Retweets, 18,000+ Likes, 5,000+ Shares.
- Headlines in over 100 countries.
- Countless annoyed marketers, who now always hear it referenced and get asked, "What's our Oreo Blackout Moment?" or "Can we do what Oreo did during the Super Bowl?"
What are the 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 a viral moment: 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 across 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. Oreo is a 100+ year old brand, and social media was in a different place back then.
That said, there's a lot to benefit from in real-time social and in understanding what actually made the Blackout Tweet possible. For more on that, see the audience-sized options below or reach out directly.
Where can I find a video case study of the Oreo Super Bowl Blackout Tweet?
FAQs about the Oreo Blackout Tweet
What was Oreo's famous blackout ad?
Oreo's famous blackout ad was a real-time social media response during Super Bowl XLVII in 2013. The post, widely known as the "Oreo Super Bowl Blackout Tweet," went up after an unexpected power outage at the Superdome. The Oreo social team I led at 360i tweeted an image of an Oreo cookie with the caption, "Power out? No problem. You can still dunk in the dark." The post went viral within hours and is now cited regularly as a turning point for real-time brand marketing on social.
What was the Oreo Superbowl?
"Oreo Superbowl" usually refers to the same moment: Oreo's real-time social response to the Super Bowl XLVII blackout in 2013. During the outage, the brand tweeted "Power out? No problem. You can still dunk in the dark." The post was created by the 360i team I led and went viral within hours. It's now one of the most-cited case studies in real-time marketing.
