Blockbuster’s Love Fest With AirBnB on Twitter is the Brand Hug We All Needed This Week

Silent since January 2014, Blockbuster Video’s official Twitter account sprung to life Wednesday with two unexpected tweets:

“Just checking in” the account said this past Wednesday shortly after 11 a.m., adding a “hello” waving hand emoji. Later that day, the account tweeted, “OK, we’ve seen enough. Checking out.”

The activation was likely the result of Airbnb’s “End of Summer Sleepover at the Last BLOCKBUSTER,” where, for $4 a night, Airbnb’s users can book a night at the country’s only remaining Blockbuster video store. The nightly charge likely excludes any late fees, a notorious component of Blockbuster’s business model. The only remaining Blockbuster is in Deschutes County, Oregon.

According to Travel & Leisure’s web site, “the “sleepover” is like “walking back in time — a time when you’d peruse the video store’s aisles for hours picking out the best VHS tape for a movie night, grab a bag of popcorn, and maybe a few candy bars on the way out before being reminded to ‘be kind and rewind.’ And this summer, store manager Sandi Harding wants her neighbors around the store to get the chance to revive this feeling for a full 24 hours by listing the property on Airbnb for a “sleepover experience.”

The sleepover experience is available to residents of Deschutes County, who can request to book one of the three individual, one-night reservations that will take place on Sept. 18, 19, and 20.

“Welcome back, friend” Airbnb’s official account responded.

Not to be outdone, other major brands jumped in on the love fest between the two brands.

Dorito’s official account asked, “would u (sic) guys accept Doritos as payment for late fees?”

Domino’s Pizza’s official Twitter account reminisced, saying “You & I used to have some wild Friday nights back in the day,” recalling Netflix and chilling before Netflix and chilling was cool.

In fact, Chips Ahoy and Oreo Cookies official accounts tweeted that exact thought at each other Wednesday when Chips Ahoy asked Oreo if it wanted to “Blockbuster and Chill?” Oreo responded by saying, “Sure, But only if you bring the (milk emoji).”

Blockbuster’s previous last tweet came in 2014, when it promoted a last chance sale of up to 90 percent off DVDs and Blu-rays.

As of Thursday morning, Blockbuster’s first tweet Wednesday generated 945,000 likes, 140,000 retweets and more than 21,400 comments. It’s sign-off tweet generated 516,000 likes, nearly 63,000 retweets and nearly 6,000 comments.