RetailPepsi

Here’s how 5 companies capitalized on Snowpocalypse

Benjamin SnyderBy Benjamin SnyderManaging Editor
Benjamin SnyderManaging Editor

Benjamin Snyder is Fortune's managing editor, leading operations for the newsroom.

Prior to rejoining Fortune, he was a managing editor at Business Insider and has worked as an editor for Bloomberg, LinkedIn and CNBC, covering leadership stories, sports business, careers and business news. He started his career as a breaking news reporter at Fortune in 2014.

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A man plows a sidewalk after a snow storm in the Brooklyn borough of New York
A man plows a sidewalk after a snow storm in the Brooklyn borough of New York January 27, 2015. A blizzard swept across the northeastern United States on Tuesday, dropping as much as 2 feet (60 cm) of snow across Massachusetts and Connecticut even as its impact on New York City fell short of dire predictions. The governors of New York and New Jersey lifted travel bans they had imposed a day earlier and New York City's subway system restarted after being closed for 10 hours, though officials urged people to stay off snow-covered roadways. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENVIRONMENT) - RTR4N70E
Photograph by Stephanie Keith — Reuters

Companies are getting adept at using big news events for marketing, especially on social media. The blizzard that struck the Northeast over the past couple of days proves the point.

A few opportunistic companies used the wintery weather as an excuse to get the word out about their products on Twitter. Here are five companies – all incidentally in the food and beverage industry – that tried to feed off the Snowpocalypse media frenzy in 140 characters (or less).

1. Pepsi

2. Olive Garden, owned by Darden Restaurants

https://twitter.com/olivegarden/status/560091335987068928/photo/1

3. McDonald’s

https://twitter.com/McDonalds/status/559855118837772289/photo/1

4. Guinness, owned by Diageo

https://twitter.com/GuinnessUS/status/559852463189012480/photo/1

5. Dr Pepper, owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group

https://twitter.com/drpepper/status/560123252778209280/photo/1

Storyful contributed to this report.