Twitter’s a town overwrought with sketchy alleys, flying trash, horrendous grammar and contentious trolls so if there’s one thing you need while scrolling through its divisive feeds is COMIC RELIEF. Remarkably, the best comedy comes from the most unexpected places. Indeed, Twitter is the comedy club where nerd brands dominate the stage.
Nerd brands know the stakes are low in Twitter town; people will flat out ignore or pick it apart either way, so they might as well try! Try they did and viral success came their way! Just like we analyzed the funniest brands on Instagram, let’s see what brands are killing it on Twitter with humor.
Merriam Webster: Wordplay
The nerdiest of nerd brands, dictionary creators Merriam Webster have sidesplitting zingers on the regular and all they do is present dictionary definitions for words used in pop culture fights. Their comic timing is impeccable.
They’re the nerd that enters the cafeteria food fight amongst the mob and slaps a tagline on the event that perfectly captures the ludicrous nature. Whether they’re correcting someone’s word choice, adding context to new words added (like 2016’s snowflake), or jumping in with a word that perfectly summarizes a pop culture event, they know how to shade and then fade behind their “dictionary facts” nerd persona. Such sneaks! Such genius!
They even shade Dictionary.com and correct them, which may sound pompous, but what would you expect from an account that knows ALL the words and how to weaponize them?! Fun Fact: the writer of Merriam Webster has an MA in English. So what can you do with an MA in English? Impersonate a dictionary! Here it is. We found the perfect answer!
Charmin Toliet Paper: Potty Mouths
Is Twitter the place for a toilet paper brand? Absolutely, it’s full of sh**. But does a toliet paper brand NEED to tell us how much we need toilet paper? No, but they do need to tell us why we need THEIR particular brand of toilet paper. And Charmin can be downright charming when they talk about excretion. Props for that. Their series of #TweetsfromtheSeat make bathroom humor funny again and are universal because everyone needs to go to the bathroom and everyone relates the struggles, absurdity, grossness, and goofiness that Charmin laughs off on their Twitter.
No marketing team PLANS to talk about bowel movements, diarrhea, flatulence, and constipation on a regular basis, but when you’re in the business of cleaning up those messes when accidents happen, you gotta go there. Charmin reminds us why we always need toliet paper fully stocked and unduly soft.
Netflix: Self-Deprecating Jokes
Last Christmas, Netflix posted a hilarious tweet poking fun at their customers. They asked, “To those who have rewatched A Christmas Prince x times, who hurt you?”
This tweet went viral and it’s how I heard about the movie in the first place. Subsequently, I watched the guilty pleasure movie AFTER this tweet so it brought me to Netflix to use the product that they were making fun of themselves about. That’s brilliant marketing. I wouldn’t have necessarily been intrigued to watch it if I didn’t know so many people were not only watching, but REWATCHING. A funny joke on the surface, but a genius pitch and enticement to watch A Christmas Prince underneath. Suddenly, I’m watching a sappy, predictable comfort food movie to join the crowd. Well played, Netflix, well played.
Wendy’s: The Most Savage Subtweeters Of Them ALL!
Wendy’s gets hilariously confrontational with competitor brands. They’re not afraid to tell customers going to In and Burger to go OUT or to confront McDonalds about their frozen beef. Their pithy banter and sharp wit reached acclaim that tops even their stuffed baked potatoes and Frostee shakes.
Another sly, wry touch to Wendy’s tweets is their earnest Pippi -type girl profile picture. Seeing a little girl in French braids with eye rolls and sassy retorts is all the more delightful. She’s no vanilla milkshake. It brings to mind that the voice of a brand combined with its visuals, profile pic, or logo all play into a brand’s Twitter persona. And Wendy’s is a Sassafras queen that tells that tired Ronald McDonald icon to sit down, CLOWN.
All Brands: Turning Stereotypes On Their Head
From fast food to toilet paper to video streaming to dictionaries, this eclectic mix of brands achieve consistently viral and popular tweets. Their ability to own their persona and stay on-brand adds much needed comic relief to twitter AND disrupts the status quo.
These highlighted brands may have been stuck in a high school stereotype unable to escape preconceived notions, but then Twitter is like the school dance where they take off their glasses and dance freely on stage. Who would have thought Twitter was The Breakfast Club of comic genius? We did. And Breakfast Club has been on Netflix since September so there’s NO excuse for you to not know that reference! And while you’re there, don’t forget to rewatch A Christmas Prince.
Samantha S writes direct, dynamic, digestible copy for any purpose and any medium. She has written for apps, games, websites, literary journals, trade magazines, newspapers, e-commerce brands and health//nutrition brands. Samantha’s most notable achievements are authoring a guidebook for College Prowler, interviewing Leonardo Dicaprio, Zac Efron, and Amy Sherman-Palladino for The Hollywood Reporter, reviewing books for Publishers Weekly, covering the World Series of Poker, teaching creative writing at Harvard-Westlake, and working as Editor-in-Chief of The Oval literary magazine.
