You have to be fast, but when something comes up in the news that captures everyone’s attention, many companies are starting to jump on the bandwagon to catch some of the fame.  When Luis Suarez was recently given a four month ban for biting an opponent, Netflix IN and McDonalds used this new for free publicity.  Netflix tweeted “Don’t worry #Suarez, four months is plenty of time to devour House of Cards.  One bite at a time.”  and McDonalds tweeted “Hello @luis16suarez, if you are hungry come have a bit of a big Mac”.

The reward for companies being up to date with their social media skills is getting noticed for free!  This is called Digital Ambush Marketing.

Workopolis is great at these types of ads in the paper.  Using events that are capturing everyone’s imagination immediately that these things happen, they look timely and often make you laugh.  Here is one:  I think it needs no explanation.