The 13 Sassiest Brands on Twitter

13. Charmin

Charmin doesn’t have the cultural capital of brands like Old Spice and Oreo, which makes its LOL-worthy Twitter presence all the more impressive. Its tweets tend to fit into two categories: those promoting Charmin toilet paper, and those simply celebrating the joys of using the restroom:

So, we had a lot of coffee and oatmeal for breakfast today. Any guesses as to what time we'll #tweetfromtheseat?

— Charmin (@Charmin) March 3, 2013

But it also excels at on-the-fly smackdowns:

@robdelaney Um, Charmin Bears are animated. We do not advise offering real bears toilet paper. Leave the wild animal wrangling to @OldSpice

— Charmin (@Charmin) August 3, 2012

@michaelianblack whatever your "go" time is times two. Also, if checking email, add another 4 mins. #tweetfromtheseat

— Charmin (@Charmin) January 27, 2014

And even cultural references (though this one has since been deleted):

Two teams—one from Charmin’s parent company Procter & Gamble and one from an outside agency—are responsible for managing the feed, which aspires to a simple motto: “We believe that life is full of little pleasures.” Congratulations, Charmin, you’re officially the sassiest.

12. Old Spice

Its irreverent feed — one of the first to highlight Twitter as a branding tool — is the perfect companion to those massively viral commercials, earning @OldSpice more than 220,000 followers and a ton of positive press.

Glasses are called glasses because they are made of glass, much like horses are made of horse. #words

— Old Spice (@OldSpice) September 30, 2013

@Sunillin try Tinder.

— Old Spice (@OldSpice) October 31, 2013

It’s also highly skilled at sassing other brands, and boosting its own profile in the process:

@Oreo Here's a gift we made just for you. Happy holidays, and here's to another 101 years of making us eat ... https://t.co/2Xzxiy9J0J

— Old Spice (@OldSpice) December 19, 2013

11. Smart Car

You may know this microcar manufacturer from its epic Twitter smackdown in 2012 — a perfect example of how to address haters while staying on-brand:

But its recent #smartWrapMe campaign was even better: urging followers to tweet selfies, then playfully mocking them with its own product.

10. Taco Bell

The Mexican fast food chain is well known for the witty one-liners and pop culture references it regularly slings to its nearly 1 million followers:

@MeanGirlsQuotes God, Karen you're so stupid.

— Taco Bell (@tacobell) July 12, 2012

But the brand earned especially high marks as a social media sass-master when it playfully fought back at disparaging remarks made by Old Spice in 2012:

@OldSpice Is your deodorant made with really old spices?

— Taco Bell (@tacobell) July 9, 2012

9. Oreo

What really propelled Oreo to the top of the widely accepted list of social media stars was the tweet heard ‘round the world during the 2013 Super Bowl. The brand managed to effectively — and super quickly — poke fun at the power outage that delayed the game for 35 minutes:

Power out? No problem. pic.twitter.com/dnQ7pOgC

— OREO Cookie (@Oreo) February 4, 2013

But the brand consistently uses its Twitter feed to push out creative original content. Its Vine videos, for example, often serve up just the right amount of edge:

Oreo, in Association with Milk, Presents: The Spilling. #OreoHorrorStories Now playing at https://t.co/O2zWHh5IgI #Halloween

— OREO Cookie (@Oreo) October 29, 2013

We call this one Casting the Cookie. #DunkPerfect #NailedIt https://t.co/RZoDoHMRvL

— OREO Cookie (@Oreo) January 27, 2014

8. DiGiorno

There is no frozen pizza company that knows what it’s doing on Twitter quite like DiGiorno. The feed is entertaining on an everyday basis, but when major pop culture events come around, DiGiorno is especially ready with the jokes.

See, for example, this highly-circulated Super Bowl sass:

YO, THIS GAME IS LIKE A DIGIORNO PIZZA BECAUSE IT WAS DONE AFTER TWENTY MINUTES #SuperBowI #SuperSmack #DiGiorNOYOUDIDNT

— DiGiorno (@DiGiorno) February 3, 2014

Along with that time the brand live-tweeted NBC’s The Sound Of Music:

#TheSoundOfMusicLive Can't believe pizza isn't one of her favorite things smh

— DiGiorno (@DiGiorno) December 6, 2013

CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN, FORD EVERY STREAM, FOLLOW EVERY RAINBOW, UNTIL YOU FIND A SUPREME (PIZZA FROM DIGIORNOOOOOO) #TheSoundOfMusicLive

— DiGiorno (@DiGiorno) December 6, 2013

7. Sainsbury’s

British supermarket giant Sainsbury’s maintains a very, very active Twitter presence. Its social media team often uses the feed to gamely pacify disgruntled customers. But they also pepper in plenty of of silly jokes and, sometimes, they’ll just blow everyone else out of the water with a brilliant stream of puns that entertained the entire Internet.

@TeaAndCopy Were there no other packs in the plaice, or was that the sole one on the shelf? Floundering for an explanation! David.

— Sainsbury's (@sainsburys) January 10, 2014

6. Cascade

Soap is just soap, right? Well, Cascade manages to make soap a bit more interesting by serving up plenty of unsolicited life advice and, best of all, lots of quippy one-liners directed toward followers:

@btransatlantic Nothing like the real thing, baby.

— Cascade (@MyCascade) January 22, 2014

@NyAdas We won't even try to make "fetch" happen.

— Cascade (@MyCascade) February 5, 2014

5. Hot Pockets

If social media savant Cory Booker follows Hot Pockets on Twitter, then you know it’s on to something. The brand maintains a very light, playful tone, which works well since Hot Pockets are often associated with comedy.

Indeed, Hot Pockets takes sass to a whole new level by flirting with followers and layering tweets with sexual overtones:

@falIout You're just trying to get us out of our crisping sleeve aren't you?! ;)

— Hot Pockets (@hotpockets) January 22, 2014

Up close and always IRRESISTIBLY HOT. pic.twitter.com/ok68ZxmlZA

— Hot Pockets (@hotpockets) January 24, 2014

4. Delta

Airlines face a particular challenge on social media because, realistically, they have to spend the bulk of their time responding to customers’ complaints. Because seriously, nobody has more complaints than airline customers. That’s why Delta earns extra points for showing off an ability to keep its Twitter feed fun and entertaining for its followers — while still staying true to the brand.

Baby got back! We like big jets and we cannot lie, this 737 is ready to fly. pic.twitter.com/N9BaWWi3SR

— Delta (@Delta) July 30, 2013

3. Hamburger Helper

Many brands strive to cultivate an authentic tone that resonates with their web-savvy followers, but few “get it” quite like Hamburger Helper. This brand tends to stay on top of what its audience is talking about and then just has fun with it, like this Beyoncé reference:

I woke up like this. #flawless pic.twitter.com/ldABOtzKjR

— Helper (@helper) January 21, 2014

With its delightfully simple handle, @helper, the brand always maintains a conversational tone with its followers, who seem not just willing, but eager, to interact:

@rushixo That's my dude.

— Helper (@helper) January 25, 2014

@youmeanvulva Politicians give me the willies. I can never tell if they're hungry.

— Helper (@helper) January 29, 2014

2. Orbitz

A good old-fashioned feud is always a great way for a brand to show off its sassy side — when done well, of course. In 2012, travel website Orbitz started a playful duel with competitor site Priceline. Orbitz ultimately ended the battle with this proof that the company’s spokesman, Walt, was game for anything, and that the company’s social media team was too:

So you can play dress up, @Priceline Negotiator. Let's see you dress down. #OrbitzVacationParty pic.twitter.com/IZ1EXUfG

— Orbitz (@Orbitz) November 1, 2012

1. Arby’s

Arby’s earns a spot on the list largely for a very recent social media success. During the 2014 Grammys, one of the most popular topics of conversation on Twitter was Pharrell’s hat. Somebody on Arby’s social media team saw an opportunity to cleverly respond to this minor pop culture moment:

Hey @Pharrell, can we have our hat back? #GRAMMYs

— Arby's (@Arbys) January 27, 2014

The tweet — which racked up more than 83,000 retweets — showcased the type of swift, clever dig that so many brands shoot for during major cultural events but that few execute successfully. It definitely marked a standout moment for the Arby’s social media presence, but overall, the brand does maintain a fun, quippy repartee with its followers:

@DudeItsAjla We feel your love ;)

— Arby's (@Arbys) January 22, 2014