Social media loser: Wheat Thins

There’s a lot of brands I talk about who I think are doing a great job in the social space. My post about “The Big 3” has some of those examples.
There’s also some brands I like to talk about who are not doing a good job. Why? Well, as part of my job I research a lot of companies doing social right and wrong to learn from them. I like to affectionately refer to these brands as “Social Media Losers.”
This post I’d like to dedicate to a new loser: Wheat Thins. I’ve always been just ehh about Wheat Thins. They’re pretty good, nothing to write home about. But, this isn’t about the product itself. This is about the brand’s new ad campaign “Crunch is Calling.” Have you seen it? Take a look:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PV1BFaO7LA]

OK, so this is not a novel idea. First of all, Domino’s has been doing pretty much the exact same thing. Also, integrating people’s tweets into your ads isn’t cutting edge so much, either. Remember in 2009 when Trident took out a full page ad in USA Today of people’s tweets? That was pretty cool at the time.
So I’m being a little unfair. Advertising doesn’t have to be groundbreaking. It just has to sell your product. So then I got to know just who Wheat Thins is trying to market to. What I came up with? Teenage boys. Really, Wheat Thins? I mean, I suppose teenage boys will eat just about anything. But I don’t think Wheat Thins is really top of mind for them. I’m guessing they enjoy the likes of Taco Bell, Dorito’s, Mountain Dew, and other similar products. Yeah I am being stereotypical but shouldn’t marketers be? Don’t believe they are marketing to them? Take a look at some of their tweets. Also, I took a look down the page of the boy in their commercial, a teenage boy it looks like. I leave you with some of his tweets. He’s pretty deep:

Bottom line, I’m confused.