We're all sitting on our couches recovering from Beyonce's half time performance with our iPhones, iPads and laptops ready, waiting with anticipation for the next great tweet opportunity when the moment strikes. The power goes out at the Super Bowl. (!!!) What do we DO? The Twitter kids had been eagerly dissecting all the TV commercials and then for a solid 30 minutes or so there was nothing to talk about. NOTHING!

Oh, hey guys. Look at this:

This was a great use of real-time marketing for a few reasons:

• It was cute and clever - With the power outage we were all unexpectedly bored during an evening meant to be full of entertaining twists and turns. The game wasn't exactly exciting before the blackout, Beyonce made us feel like crap for not being Beyonce, and then, on top of it all, even the ads were on pause. All we wanted was a good LOL, and Oreo delivered.
• Wow, that was fast! - If you've ever worked with large brands, you were likely thinking, "How did they get that approved and turned around so quickly?" Buzzfeed answers that question here. Edelman Digital also offers a glimpse into how the process works at their Social Intelligence Command Center (SICC) here.
• Playing off a well-known existing social campaign made things a lot easier - Many brands were hoping to cash in on a social media opportunity last night. Only a few emerged from the chatter. Oreo dominated coverage by using something already familiar.

Was this a cost-effective stint compared to a TV ad? Obviously. Don't kid yourself assuming it was "free." Oreo agreed upfront to have agency staff be on watch scouting for an opportunity. Let's also not forget about those billable hours spent on engagement, design, and of course tracking and reporting mentions and reach. A non-social media friend told me she heard about it on the news this morning. Chaaa-ching.

Clearly the dedicated and agile Oreo team deserves the praise. But even if your social media team doesn't have the structure in place to execute something of that scale, there were a few other brands who did a good job.  Personally, I was impressed with Walgreen's tweet.

Even if you don't have the budget to pay for a social media command center team, it doesn't mean you can't make real-time engagement opportunities work for you.  Just... be careful.