The only certainty in 2020 was uncertainty. For marketers, just about every plan was thrown out the window, as they navigated their brands through scrapped shoots, delayed launches and ever-shifting budgets while trying to strike the right tone in their messaging.
These challenges pushed marketers creatively, leading to some incredible work on Twitter. The real-time nature of the platform provided a space for brands to step up and take action to inform, support and entertain people during an objectively chaotic year. From quenching our thirst for sports during a live sports drought to taking a stand for what’s right and rallying their community, it was important to shine a spotlight on the brands that recognized the valuable role they can play in people's lives during difficult times.
In an uncertain year, marketers looked to other marketers more than ever for inspiration and assurance. By celebrating the stand-out brands and campaigns from 2020, and the people behind them, Twitter showcased best-in-class marketing on the platform and inspired marketers for the year to come.
Like every marketer in 2020, the team behind Best of Tweets, a yearly round-up of the best brands on Twitter, needed to pivot. So, we turned the typical award show on its head and celebrated the brands that truly understood their customers’ mindset in 2020 and took action. Instead of the standard award show categories, we said cheers to the brands worth remembering from a year we’ll never forget.
Winners included: Best campaign for connecting us from the couch (@Trolls), Best campaign for quenching our thirst for sports (@Gatorade), Best brand speaking out and standing up (@benandjerrys), Best campaign for making missing out memorable (@Chase), Best campaign for pivoting when it counts (@uscensusbureau) and Best campaign that rallied their community (@mannysdeli).
From epic watch parties to crucial campaign pivots, the marketers we celebrated brought all the feels and played to the strength of the platform – connecting with people. And, while we couldn’t celebrate in person, we made sure the ten winners got the recognition they deserved with an integrated social-first campaign targeted at fellow marketers.
Unlike the previous year with winners announced in a Tweet thread and live event, we had to find new ways to make this the year-end party no marketer would want to miss out on. To create buzz and anticipation, a Like-to-Subscribe Tweet invited marketers to instantly be notified when the winners were announced; consider this the invite. On launch day, the winners were revealed in an epic Tweet thread driving to a custom website and a branded emoji amplified the conversation.
While all the winning marketers were in their homes, from Basking Ridge NJ, to Universal City CA, to Greenville SC, we worked with them remotely to bring their wins to the big stage. With a director and crew remote, we produced a series of twelve social-first videos showcasing the creative minds behind the winning campaigns. And the marketers themselves celebrated their win with custom creative they shared with pride on their social platforms. We also delivered over 200 custom Twitter kits to the winning marketing teams to kick off the at-home celebrations.
In an objectively chaotic year, Best of Tweets 2020 showed just how vital Twitter was to marketers. With a farewell toast to 2020 this celebration of the brands worth remembering from a year we’ll never forget, was truly memorable. With Twitter, these brands connected, unlike ever before, with people at the center of what’s happening. No doubt, inspiring marketers working on their 2021 marketing plans.
We ran the campaign where marketers are:
Paid: Twitter, LinkedIn, eMarketer, Ad Age, Digiday
Social: @TwitterMktg
Owned: Email activation, Client meetings
Earned: AdWeek, PRWeek and other industry trade publications
Overall Best of Tweets 2020 drove 9.7 million impressions across all channels, primarily through Twitter. Best of Tweets 2020 successfully met its objective to showcase best-in-class marketing on Twitter to marketers in order to influence how clients use and invest in the platform.
Results by channel:
Twitter Marketing Website (Marketing.Twitter.com)
12x YoY increase in page views
#1 most viewed US article on the Twitter Marketing website since publication on December 3rd, 2020
@TwitterMktg social activation
7.4M program impressions (+187% YoY)
+190% YoY increase in #BestOfTweets conversation
0.6x YoY increase in winner’s thread engagement rate
79x YoY increase in #BestOfTweets program subscribers from Like-to-Subscribe activation
+3M views on the Social-first interviews with the creative minds behind the winning campaigns
Twitter Marketing email activation
+4% YoY increase in unique open rate
+6% YoY increase in unique click-through rate
Top performing email campaign of 2020
+29% lift in unique open rate and +96% lift in unique click-through rate vs channel benchmark
92K overall reach with 3x touch frequency
Sales enablement
10 new case studies on the winning campaigns
+168% YoY in downloads of sales enablement materials
Press coverage in trade publications
1.8M earned media impressions including coverage in AdWeek and PRWeek
