Here come the brands: T-Mobile, Denny’s and Tootsie Pops glom onto iPhone7 event

By Tanya Dua • September 7, 2016 •

Today is to tech enthusiasts what Super Bowl Sunday is to sports fans. And with so many eyeballs glued to the Apple event live stream announcing the iPhone 7, marketers from T-Mobile to Jim Beam just couldn’t resist the urge to chime in on the conversation.

Apple began drumming up excitement for its latest iPhone last week, inviting people to today’s event with the tagline “See you on the 7th” — an obvious reference to the new phone. And despite some initial hiccups, including Amazon accidentally releasing its product page for iPhone 7 accessories and premature tweets from its own new Twitter account, the brand dominated the online conversation this afternoon.

There were over 421,000 tweets around the hashtag #AppleEvent between 1 and 3 pm Eastern Time, according to to marketing technology company Amobee, with real-time sentiment around the hashtag on Twitter being 16 percent positive, 68 percent neutral and 16 percent negative — due to Apple doing away with the headphone jack.

But Apple wasn’t just tooting its own horn. Many other brands couldn’t resist the temptation of chiming in and being a part of the conversation.

Designer Kenneth Cole was one of the first ones to mention today’s Apple launch on his own personal account, unable to resist his design sensibility while alluding to a new color:

Apparently the #iPhone7 has another “new black”… you can probably wear it with anything. #AppleEvent

— Mr. Kenneth Cole (@mr_kennethcole) September 7, 2016

Candy brand Tootsie Pops ran a contest around the Apple live stream.

In honor of today’s #AppleEvent I’m having an apple event of my own! Must RETWEET and FOLLOW for chance to win! pic.twitter.com/AWznfvqh7v

— Mr. Owl❤Tootsie Pops (@MrOwl) September 7, 2016

But T-Mobile seemed to be the most besotted, with both the brand and its CEO John Legere tweeting GIFs and updates relating to the launch.

Everyone at T-Mobile rn. #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/WBFo6xAxsA

— T-Mobile (@TMobile) September 7, 2016

Even Denny’s joined in, with a GIF showing a pancake with running water in response to the iPhone7 being water resistant. The tweet was retweeted nearly 2,000 times within 30 minutes.

The new water-resistant Pancake. pic.twitter.com/sOpzLyeMVf

— Denny’s (@DennysDiner) September 7, 2016

Other brands that got a boost included Nintendo and Nike, with the announcement that Super Mario, Pokemon and Nike+ were going to be on the Apple Watch. According to Amobee, there were 7,000 tweets mentioning either Super Mario, or the hashtags #SuperMario and #SuperMarioRun between 1:10pm – 1:20pm Eastern Time on Sept. 7.

James Cordon also generated some buzz, opening the event with Apple CEO Tim Cook in a Carpool Karaoke. Following the act, there were nearly 3,000 tweets mentioning James him and over 4,900 tweets mentioning Carpool Karaoke between 1 and 3 pm Eastern Time.

Whiskey maker Jim Beam also tried to claim a piece of the pie, albeit not on social. The brand introduced the “Jim Beam Apple Watch” with agency Olson Engage, which puts a 1.5-ounce shot glass right on your wrist.