A Super Bowl lesson in customer relations

I’ll leave the arguing over what was the best Super Bowl ad to others, though I did appreciate the partying old folks in the Taco Bell commercial.

When the power went out at the Superdome, the Oreo cookie folks' quick thinking -- to make the most of the occasion via Twitter -- is getting a lot of praise in the marketing world. Their ad agency, 360i, tweeted out an ad saying it was OK to “dunk in the dark” while the power was still out. The ad was re-tweeted 14,000.

How’d they do it, and why should a government contractor care?

Here’s why: The 360i folks watched the Super Bowl with Oreo’s brand team, according to the Washington Post.

Whoever came up with the idea for the Twitter ad only had to look across the room to get approval to send it out. I like to think of the conversation taking place over a bowl of hot chili and a cold beer.

But, it’s a great lesson in having a tight relationship with your customers. Without it, opportunities are lost.

So maybe a new measure of how close you are to your customers is to ask: Would they watch the Super Bowl with me?

If the answer is no, then maybe you have some work to do.