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#BestOfTweets 2021

Twitter has become the go-to space for brands to stay relevant among consumers, leveraging the service’s real-time conversational nature along with its customisable suite of ad products. This year, we witnessed a pool of ground-breaking brand work that surpassed creative touchstones, and also left a mark on audiences’ hearts and minds. Here’s our annual look back at the brands that kept Twitter timelines buzzing the most as they launched new products and stayed connected with their audiences throughout the year:


Best brand for driving meaningful impact: Google India (@GoogleIndia)
After waves of loss and despair earlier this year, people wanted to know they were safe.
Understanding that people come to Twitter in search of information, Google India (@GoogleIndia)
used their credibility and the service’s reach to share updates around COVID-19, encourage people to
practice caution and enable them with updates around vaccination, made them aware of isolation
protocols and more. Through Twitter, the brand not only enabled audiences to stay safe and informed,
but also engaged them in a way that created meaningful, lasting impact - winning it a spot on this
year’s #BestOfTweets.


Best #OnlyOnTwitter campaign: Flipkart (@flipkart) for #BigBillionMuqabla and Amazon Prime
Video (@PrimeVideoIN) for #OneMicStandOnPrime
To stay top-of-mind, brands go all-out in making consumers the core of the conversations they’re
starting. And what better way to do that than on Twitter? This year, not one, but two brands stood out
with custom-created #OnlyOnTwitter campaigns.
For its flagship annual sale, Big Billion Days, Flipkart (@flipkart) used a customised Events Page on
Twitter, inviting people to the #BigBillionMuqabla. Creating this timeline of Tweets, the brand kept its
audience engaged and excited by prompting them to Like the Tweets with their favourite products in
order to unlock exciting offers every day.

Introducing the second season of #OneMicStandOnPrime, Amazon Prime Video (@PrimeVideoIN)
also brought its audiences to the centre-stage, asking them to vote for their favourite celebrity from
the season’s line-up by Liking Tweets in a four-day long, real-time voting thread. These votes - over
41K in just four days - were broadcasted in a Twitter livestream.


Best brand connection to an event: Mobile Premier League (@PlayMPL) with #FanBannJaaoge
and #ShowYourGame
One of the best ways for brands to stay relevant is to be a part of the biggest, most followed events
from across the world. That’s what Mobile Premier League (@PlayMPL) did with the biggest sports
event of the year - the Olympics. As principal partners for the Indian Olympic Association, MPL
(@PlayMPL) inspired chatter around the #Tokyo2020 games by creating a fan army of cheerleaders
on Twitter for #TeamIndia at the Olympics. The brand took over Twitter’s premium real-estate of the
Explore page (with a product called Spotlight) with the #FanBannJaaoge campaign video, and used

influential members of its cheerleading army including Gul Panag (@GulPanag), Samantha Ruth
Prabhu (@Samanthaprabhu2), and even the Kolkata Knight Riders (@KKRiders), to create an
exponential ripple effect across Twitter timelines, all for a great cause.


MPL Sports (@mpl_sport) also leveraged the #CricketTwitter conversation to introduce Team India’s
#BillionCheersJersey for the #T20WorldCup, which was inspired by the cheers of Indian fans.
Launching the official Jersey Anthem, the brand invited fans to #ShowYourGame on Twitter and also
partnered with influential voices on the service including Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha), Wasim
Jaffer (@WassimJaffer14) to scale engagement for the campaign.


Best brand connection with premium content on Twitter: Microsoft (@Microsoft) for
#MicrosoftAI and #SecurityForAll
Through Twitter Amplify, brands can align with premium content from publishers that their target
audiences are interested in. That’s what Microsoft (@Microsoft) did successfully, to become the
brand leader leveraging premium content for its #MicrosoftAI and #SecurityForAll campaigns.
Microsoft aligned with premium content publishers on the service and leading tech influencers to
produce custom content that engaged audiences in informed discussions about artificial intelligence
(AI) and data security (DS). And what’s more, the brand strategically committed to this approach with
a steady drum beat of content over three quarters -- collaborating with marquee business publications
to engage audiences in high-impact conversations and win this title.

Best brand connection to a cultural occasion: Amazon India (@amazonIN) with
#DeliverTheLove and #DeliverThanks
To stay culturally relevant among consumers, brands must participate in conversations in real time --
and what better an occasion to celebrate with audiences than Diwali? Ahead of the festive season,
and acknowledging the challenging year the people of this nation have been through, Amazon India
(@amazonIN) warmed people’s hearts with a moving video for their #DeliverTheLove campaign,
which reminded audiences of the kindness of people during the pandemic. The brand also furthered
its #DeliverThanks campaign this Diwali, encouraging people to express gratitude for its delivery
partners by Tweeting with posters that said ‘Thank you’. Connecting with the spirit of the festival,
Amazon ignited a ray of hope, love and humanity in the darkest times.


Best brand connect with regional audiences: Netflix India South (@Netflix_INSouth)
Regional content has been on the rise, and as always, Netflix India (@NetflixIndia) was quick to
adapt. Leaning into the diversity of conversation on Twitter, the brand strengthened its connection
with audiences across the four states of South India to create buzz around its growing slate of
properties in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. To become a part (and a driver) of
entertainment conversations, the brand chose Twitter as its destination to launch a dedicated account
- Netflix India South (@Netflix_INSouth). The account debuted with a multilingual Tweet, and topped it
with the launch of Namma Stories - a music video that celebrates stories from south India.


Best product launch on Twitter: Mahindra (@Mahindra_Auto) with #HelloXUV700 and Morris
Garages India (@MGMotorIn) for the Astor with #TheAIAffair
When it comes to launching products virtually, brands often face the challenge of building mass
awareness while also driving consideration. Two auto brands stood out from the crowd this year --
Mahindra (@Mahindra_Auto) and Morris Garages India (@MGMotorIn) -- becoming the joint winners
of this title.
For the launch of the #MahindraXUV700, Mahindra (@Mahindra_Auto) leveraged a whole host of
Twitter’s products across the launch cycle. It created awareness for the launch with a Reminder Card
that doubled up as a teaser for the event, took over Twitter timelines on the day of the launch, and
became the first auto brand to leverage Twitter’s Live Brand Studio and create a Live Events Page,
which was the go-to destination for eager audiences to follow the big unveil. To keep up the
conversation momentum, the brand used promoted Tweets to promote video snippets from the event
into people’s timelines .

Morris Garages India (@MGMotorIn) also took the Twitter launch route to introduce the MG Astor -
India’s first car with a personal AI assistant. Unveiling #TheAIAffair to Indian audiences, the brand
leveraged Twitter’s takeover products across the launch cycle - pre-launch, launch day and post-
launch - creating a continuum of conversations across timelines. Following the launch, the brand also
used Website Cards to drive performance through click-based campaigns, directing people to the
bookings page on the brand’s website.

Best brand in the emerging category: Unacademy (@unacademy)

With digital adoption soaring higher in India than ever before, several emerging brands across
categories have been scaling their Twitter strategies to engage audiences, acquire consumers and
increase their share of voice in the market. Among these brands, edtech company Unacademy
(@unacademy) used a strategic mix of unconventional storytelling, creative execution and the
credibility of voices such as that of Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt), all while playing into the centre of
trending moments and conversations during the cricket season. With campaigns like
#TeachThemYoung and #MistakesTheGreatestTeacher, the brand’s great use of Twitter and success
in attempting to redefine education for the country’s youth makes it the winner in this category.

Best brand connect to audio: Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia)
Several brands made their debuts on Twitter Spaces - the service’s live audio product introduced this
year. Bringing together the sports community in high-engagement conversations, Star Sports
(@StarSportsIndia) hosted several Spaces with sports fans across the year. Tapping into Spaces’
popularity among Tamil-speaking audiences, Star Sports Tamil (@StarSportsTamil) also hosted
Spaces for the community, giving fans a chance to connect with their favourite athletes, talk about the
most exciting in-game moments, or just geek-out in sports banter with fellow fans.

Best brand connect to a moment: State Bank Of India (@TheOfficialSBI) with
#YogaAsanasWithSBI
State Bank of India (@TheOfficialSBI), the most followed BFSI brand on Twitter, has been
successfully connecting with audiences through creative yet informative takes around conversations
happening in real-time. Aligning with the cultural moment of #InternationalYogaDay, the brand
engaged its audience in an interactive campaign to help them enhance positivity and well-being in
their lives. Building interest through powerful video assets, the brand engaged people with an auto-
reply Twitter campaign, asking them to choose the kind of yoga they wished to explore. Each Tweet
that engaged with the campaign was rewarded with customised replies demonstrating relevant yoga
asanas. To scale reach and impact, the brand also used Twitter’s takeover assets on
#InternationalYogaDay - owning the moment on the service.


Special Mentions that didn’t make it to the top, but made conversations across Twitter timelines
While just a few brands could make it to #BestOfTweets, there were several others that produced
work worth talking about. Here’s a shout out to those brands.
Cadbury’s (@CadCelebrations) #NotJustACadburyAd, which coupled artificial intelligence with the
voice of India’s biggest brand ambassador, Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk), to promote local stores and
business across Indian cities, created a powerful impact across audiences and ad-watchers.
The Association of Mutual Funds’ (@MFSahiHai) cricket season campaign that brought together
India’s favourite cricketers to educate audiences about financial risks and investments, and Coca
Cola’s/Thums Up’s (@ThumsUpOfficial) #Tokyo2020 campaign #PalatDe, which had people on
Twitter cheering for #TeamIndia at the Olympics and the Paralympics - made noteworthy cases for
moment-led brand work that inspired India.
Oppo’s (@OPPOIndia) festive launch show that gave audiences a chance to engage with the brand’s
CMO in a live Twitter event earned a special mention too, as did Spotify (@spotifyindia) for its brilliant
use of Twitter Spaces to promote the brand’s new offerings like #TheRJBalajiPodcast and
#EnjoyEnjaami - its first Indian Spotify Singles.

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