Turning Moments into Marketing

Couple of years ago, back in college I came across this Oreo ad. It was a tweet made during the 2013 Super Bowl power outage, and the copy simply read – “You can still dunk in the dark.” 

I found it super interesting. While it looked like such a fun and effortless way to place your product and engage with consumers on a closer level, it obviously required a team that was on their feet, ready to turn any given moment into something favourable for the brand, and the post spread fiercely. Without spending millions, they were able to outperform all the Super Bowl ads that year. 

This is called opportunistic marketing.  

It’s widely seen amongst the B2C brands as they can afford to be playful, and culture is part of their game. While B2B brands usually play safe, opportunistic marketing can work there too as long as it appeals to the target demographic. 

A recent favourite of mine was a Fevicol poster showing a piece of jewellery in a museum with its logo underneath, as a response to the Louvre Museum heist in 2025. 

Why you should take advantage of this:

• It gives your brand a tiny space in someone’s memory and that’s where long-term brand value is built. 
• Brands that react to culture feel less like companies and more like people, and people connect with people. 
• Good opportunistic marketing makes people comment, forward and share opinions and that kind of distribution can’t be bought easily. 

At the same time, this isn’t just about jumping on every trend, It’s about picking the right moments. Knowing when it’s appropriate, when it’s relevant and when it’s better to stay silent. 

A good example of trying to jump on a cultural moment but totally missing the point was Pepsi’s 2017 commercial featuring Kendall Jenner. 

The ad was intended to connect Pepsi with peace, unity and social movement energy. It showed Jenner joining a protest and handing a police officer a Pepsi. The message was meant to be uplifting, but instead it came off as insensitive and tone-deaf especially because it used the imagery of real social justice movements like Black Lives Matter. 

People online accused Pepsi of trivialising real struggles and reducing serious issues to a soda commercial. Pepsi ended up pulling down the ad and making a public apology. 

It all comes down to good timing, good judgement and a good understanding of what people are feeling in that moment. Some trends are perfect opportunities, some are not relevant and some are straight up not appropriate. Opportunistic marketing is just a tool and like any tool, it depends on how you use it. 

Storyteller