The all-time great newsjacking campaigns
1. Oreo — “Dunk in the Dark”
When the lights went out at the 2013 Super Bowl, Oreo tweeted “You can still dunk in the dark” within minutes. It was retweeted thousands of times for essentially zero media spend (Digiday).
2. Aviation Gin — Peloton ad
After the 2019 Peloton ad went viral for the wrong reasons, Aviation Gin hired the same actress for a tongue-in-cheek follow-up within days (PRNews).
3. Heinz — “Barbiecue”
Heinz rode the Barbie movie wave with a limited-edition pink “Barbiecue” sauce, earning coverage across Bloomberg, CBS and more (Cision).
4. MINI — horsemeat scandal
During the EU horsemeat scandal, MINI quipped its cars were “beef, with a lot of horses hidden in it” — a witty, on-brand angle on a national story.
5. Marmite — royal wedding
Marmite produced limited-edition “Harry and Meghan” jars to ride one of the biggest media events of the year.
6. David Meerman Scott — Elon & Twitter
The creator of newsjacking practices what he preaches, publishing timely analysis the moment the Twitter board was set to accept Elon Musk's offer.
What every winning example has in common
- Speed. They published inside the newsjacking window, not after.
- Relevance. The brand had a credible reason to comment.
- Brand voice. The angle felt unmistakably like them.
- A clear hook. Humor, a visual, or expert insight gave people a reason to share.
The masterclass: Ryan Reynolds
No one has turned newsjacking into a business model better than Ryan Reynolds and his agency Maximum Effort. His “fastvertising” approach — building an ad around a cultural moment within 48 hours — helped sell Mint Mobile and Aviation Gin for a combined sum approaching $2 billion. Read the full breakdown in our Ryan Reynolds newsjacking case study.