Snickers have ingeniously capitalized on one of the biggest stories of the week, the BBC’s suspension of “Top Gear” presenter Jeremy Clarkson, who allegedly hit the show’s producer. Check out Snickers’ tweet poking fun at the story:

.@JeremyClarkson you may want to have some of these on set next time you are #hungry…

— Snickers (@SnickersUK) March 12

With reports emerging that Clarkson lost his temper after a disagreement over his supper, Snicker’s stunt is laced with wit, relevance, and cheeky charm.

And the social network is loving it; at time of writing the tweet has already amassed more than 3,200 retweets and 2,400 favorites.

The message in red on the box plays into the brand’s “You’re not you when you’re hungry” campaign, in which various celebrities act inappropriately due to hunger before eating a Snickers bar. The slogan debuted at Super Bowl:

UK audiences were treated to a version starring Joan Collins, which debuted:

The advertisements gained a great deal of traction with consumers; Campaign creators MediaCom reported that “over the 12 weeks of the launch campaign, we saw an increase in the number of Snickers singles sold in the Impulse channel; 705,000 more bars than last year. We’ve also seen double digit growth in value sales in some channels.”

Real-Time Social Media Amplification

The tweet further amplifies what was already a highly successful campaign for the confectionary brand, and is the latest example of brands utilizing real-time social media marketing reacting to current events with speed and agility.

Just a couple of weeks ago, it was a bad picture of a questionably-hued garment that set the Twitter-sphere alight. #TheDress saw all kinds of brands joining in the debate to get some attention.

When the right tweet can mean millions of engagements and new followers, brands today are increasingly recognizing the value of clever, creative, real-time Twitter marketing.