Save 50% on a 3-month Digiday+ membership. Ends Dec 12.
A man by the name of Mark Holland has taken it upon himself to answer the age-old question: How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? He announced (and completed) his mission on Twitter this week.
Because science. pic.twitter.com/Ih4i6abkLN
— Mark Holland (@RiffRaff41) July 27, 2013
The answer, he found out after painstaking research, is 850 licks. Holland tweeted evidence of his findings on July 27 to his 32,55 followers. Surprisingly, of the 128 retweets and 40 favorites his tweet got, not a single one was from either the Tootsie Roll Twitter account, the brand behind the Tootsie Pop, or the Tootsie Pop feed itself.
Weirdly, Tootsie Pop did retweet the Adweek article about the Tweet. But this seems like an obvious opportunity for them to come up with a fun, human response to Holland, who went to great lengths (and licks) on behalf of the brand. Not even a retweet, guys?
In our brave new post-Oreo Superbowl Blackout Tweet era, real-time marketing is the buzzword of the moment. Tootsie Roll missed a great opportunity to create entertaining, responsive content that could have itself gone viral. At the very least they could have engaged in a funny Twitter conversation with a fan, as Canadian brand Purolator did earlier this month, or tweeted directly to Holland.
It’s still not too late, Tootsie Roll.
More in Marketing
In Graphic Detail: Here’s what the creator economy is expected to look like in 2026
Digiday has charted its expected revenue, key platforms for creator content as well as what types of creators brands want to work with.
Ulta, Best Buy and Adidas dominate AI holiday shopping mentions
The brands that are seeing the biggest boost from this shift in consumer behavior are some of the biggest retailers.
Future of Marketing Briefing: AI confuses marketers but their own uncertainty runs deeper
That was the undercurrent at this week’s Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit in New Orleans.