REAL-TIME MARKETING IN A VISUAL WORLD 181 retweets as the original post, and it got a lot of media attention as well. What’s more, it showed that the car manufacturer has a great sense of humor and doesn’t shy away from showing the brand’s fun side. After all, everybody loves to laugh. And what people love more than a good laugh is the knowl- edge that brands have confidence in their products, which this funny infographic showed very clearly. Including the variety of 4 bird species was also a nice touch. Well played, Smart Car. The brand’s clever response was rewarded by the tweet you see on the right from Hove. In the blog post, to which he linked in his response tweet, Hove called brand’s response “INFOGRAPHANTASTIC.” It isn’t every day your brand’s tweet inspires others to come up with the new word to describe it. Plus, Hove noted that this ingenious move by Smart Car made him rethink his perception of Real-time marketing goes to the the brand. Not bad. heart of marketing: it is about rais- But is the smart social response all there is to real-time ing awareness, creating demand, marketing, or is there something more? and furthering the brand’s mission Real-time marketing is no different from what good through connecting with customers marketing has always been about—so why do we need a in a meaningful way, in the right fancy new phrase for it? place, at the right time, through the relevant content. The Rise of Real-Time Marketing Think of RTM and many people will cite the now-famous example of the Oreo tweet that went out during the 2013 Super Bowl XLVII blackout. When America’s biggest sporting event of the year was halted by a power outage that caused lights to go out for over half an hour, Oreo