On 03.21.10, In Inspiration, by Manda
You’ve seen plenty of creative Twitter backgrounds created by designers and artists, but how are corporations representing themselves on Twitter? This post showcases 50 examples of stellar Twitter branding by the big boys, along with snapshots of their websites so you can appreciate the entire branding package.
1. Aflac Incorporated
2. Allstate Insurance Company
3. AT&T
4. Best Buy
5. Bob Evans Farms, Inc.
6. Borders Direct, LLC.
7. Cabela’s Inc.
8. Caterpillar Inc.
9. Chevron Corporation
10. Circuit City
11. Clinique Laboratories, LLC.
12. The Clorox Company
13. Coach, Inc.
14. The Coca-Cola Company
15. Cottonelle
16. Craftsman
17. Crayola LLC.
18. Dick’s Sporting Goods
19. Marc Ecko Enterprises
20. ESPN Internet Ventures
21. Exxon Mobil Corporation
22. Fender Musical Instruments Corporation
23. Ford Motor Company
24. Frito-Lay North America, Inc.
25. Hasbro
26. Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
27. JCP Media L.P.
28. JetBlue Airways
29. Limited Brands
30. Lowe’s
31. Macy’s, Inc.
32. McDonald’s
33. Motorola, Inc.
34. Nike, Inc.
35. Nintendo
36. Office Depot, Inc.
37. PepsiCo, Inc.
38. PetSmart Store Group, Inc.
39. Pixar
40. Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc.
41. Snapple Beverage Corp.
42. Starbucks Corporation
43. Steelcase, Inc.
44. Target Brands, Inc.
45. Time Warner Global Media Group
46. Geoffrey, LLC., Toys “R” Us
47. Under Armour
48. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
49. Whole Foods Market IP, L.P.
50. Yum! Brands
28 Responses
Mine is my favorite
http://twitter.com/sahratam
Nice post, tho I do find it strange that some of these companys even have a twitter, let alone followers! Who is going to follow a toilet paper company? lol
Manda Reply:
March 22nd, 2010 at 7:16 pm
Ha Ha! Great point, Carson! It seems that a lot of them use Twitter to communicate directly with customers, and to announce new products and sales. But, I’m with you — I really don’t see myself following most of them.
I was really impressed with some of their Twitter page designs. It’s not so easy to design a page around toilet paper
I will tell you though, to find these 50 examples of good design, I bet I looked at 200 other examples of pages that were either poorly designed, or not customized at all! Seems like such a waste when these huge companies have in-house design teams and large ad agencies on their payroll.
Brilliant article! Love to see more and more successful examples. Very handy when encouraging clients.
Thanks for sharing
Manda Reply:
March 23rd, 2010 at 2:32 pm
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Bebop! That’s actually what got me started on this post — researching for a client to show them what other corporations are doing on Twitter
There is plenty of eye candy there for sure! I wonder could I order a happy meal if I tweet McDonalds?
It doesn’t surprise me at all that these companies have twitter accounts. There are actually dogs on Facebook now! I kid you not.
Mark McCorkell´s last blog ..Logo Design Love: Book Review
Manda Reply:
March 23rd, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Ha ha! I was wondering along the same lines. How responsive can these huge companies really be to their followers?? Can they keep up with everyone? Your Happy Meal idea sounds like a fun experiment
I love how well these tie in to their websites. I like the simplicity of Circuit City and Whole Foods, and I love the Six Flags image. Snapple and Clinique do a great job with product appeal; specially how Clinique has the top of the bottles on twitter and the bottom on their site. This is a great collection.
@Mark: LOL! Dogs seriously? LOL
Yari´s last blog ..CD Covers for Inspiration
Manda Reply:
March 24th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
I’m so glad you enjoyed these, Yari! They took forever to collect! I agree — some of the simplest designs are the most beautiful. I really loved the line drawings on the Steelcase and Office Depot backgrounds
The corporate twitter of McFit – nice and intelligent Design
https://twitter.com/Ausseher
These are nice! It’s nice to see companies taking advantage of this really easy way to promote their brand. The only thing that kind of makes me sad is when I’m using a Twitter feed tool and I don’t get to see the nice backgrounds.
Manda Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
That is the funny thing about Twitter backgrounds, Minna. Even if you’re not using a tool like Tweetdeck, you still really spend the day looking at your own Twitter background — not the backgrounds of those you follow. The only time I really get to enjoy anyone’s Twitter background is when I first visit their page to decide if I’m going to, or not going to, follow them. That’s why I enjoy doing posts like this one — it gives me an opportunity to enjoy the backgrounds a bit more
An inspiring collection. It has inspired me to add designing a twitter background to my list of design services. I can show them examples like these for reference. Cheers!
Manda Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 7:28 pm
I think that’s a great idea, Carolyn! I’m so glad you enjoyed the post!
These 50 Examples of Twitter-Accounts are really excellent. But you forgot one:
The Online Advertising-Glossary http://www.twitter.com/unimase
It’s a free service offered by the swiss advertising agency unimase
Enjoy!
Oliver
These examples are really great! I find it interesting that people would want to deal with faceless corporations in a social media forum though. Kind of strange. I only see one example that i would call in to question. The one for Lowe’s, that is ABSOLUTELY awful and embarrassing. The grass illustration is amateur at best. I’m pretty sure Lowe’s has enough money to hire someone, or an agency with talent, or at the very least, an eye for design. Poor job guys. Look at the other backgrounds and take note!
Manda Reply:
March 30th, 2010 at 9:14 am
Ha ha!! Thanks so much for your comments, James! There were a few that I felt were questionable also, but if you had seen the hundreds of TERRIBLE backgrounds in the corporate Twitter world, you would be impressed by these
The thing I liked about the Lowe’s background definitely wasn’t the grass (which I agree is really poorly rendered) but the fact that when they updated their website for the season, or for a promotion, they reflected that change in their Twitter page. In fact, that was one thing that I noticed with a few companies. Starbucks, for example, has a featured drink each week, and their Twitter background changes with the drink feature. The corporations that are doing it right, are taking it seriously, and are updating their Twitter page as often as needed to keep up with promotions and design changes in their websites. It’s nice to see such dedication to a Twitter page 
I also agree that it’s odd that so many people want to follow these corporations. I think most people want instant answers to questions, an easy outlet to complain, or are hoping to catch promotions or coupons not offered elsewhere. To me, it’s similar to those following celebrities. It’s more about watching than interacting. Not my preferred use of Twitter, but some people would rather watch and read than be social — to each his own
Wow! How beautiful they are. I think I should redesign my Twitter background right now
Thanks for share.
Pavel´s last blog ..DocsPal: Chuyển đổi định dạng file trực tuyến
Great collection!!!
Hi,
This is nice post. This list help me to build up corporate branding.
Thanks for sharing such a cool post.
Very nice!! Good to see other people are banging the drum about well designed, bespoke Twitter backgrounds that enhance the brand, rather than using the same templates as everyone else!! By the way, quick plug, we can design them as well!!!
I will definitely be bookmarking this blog, good stuff!
baidu
Nice post.
rent villa´s last blog ..Escape
AT&T looks wired, dont match the website
Shovan´s last blog ..Design User Friendly Website to Make Purchase Process Comfortable