Cannes 2012: 'Twitter is the second screen to TV', Twitter chief tells brands

The social media site is "the second screen to TV", Costolo said, and brands should "connect the dots" of their marketing investment "on this screen to the one on that screen" for a multiple perspective.

Costolo's speech, a bid for brands' attention, marked Twitter's debut as an official participant at the Cannes Lions Festival – last year its executives attended the event, but remained on its fringes.

During his talk, Costolo highlighted Burberry, H&M, P&G's US detergent brand Tide, and Porsche as brands that are already using Twitter to stretch their marketing budgets.

He said: "H&M spent a lot of money with [David] Beckham for the Super Bowl in the US and tweeted about the Beckham ads throughout the game's ad breaks. If you're spending this kind of money, you have to layer conversation on top to extend the runway of your investment."

Costolo cited Tide and the marketing of the film 'Prometheu' s as examples of brands that used Twitter reaction to an event as content for TV ads.

The P&G detergent was used to clean up a crash site at Daytona, images of which were tweeted by P&G and then used as the basis for a 30-second ad.

Promotion for the Ridley Scott film 'Prometheus' last month featured an ad made in real time using Twitter reaction to a trailer shown in an earlier commercial break.

"So you can use the platform to create the conversation [as well as using] the platform to create the 30-second spot," said Costolo.

Burberry was among the "real-time brands" doing "a great job of leveraging this world" when it tweeted pictures of models backstage at London Fashion Week coming on to the runway before the audience could see them.

Brands could have an "incredibly simple message" on Twitter as Porsche did with a promoted Tweet that got "unheard of levels of engagement" of 87%, "because the engagement [was] integrated into the conversation – not hanging around it."

Costolo urged brands to adapt campaigns "for the moment instead of planning campaigns for the future".

He hailed an Audi R8 Twitter campaign that "created so much buzz that, when discontinued, there was an outcry, so they brought it back" as a "great example" of this.

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j � y e p� Ю B of storage. Microsoft said they would be priced at a similar rate to other tablets using the same type of processor built by other firms.

It added that the Intel-based versions would be offered with either 64GB or 128GB of storage and would have price tags comparable to ultrabook laptops.

Different chipsets

One tech analyst told the BBC that other hardware makers were likely to feel aggrieved by the news.

"Microsoft can offer a competitive price for these specifications as it doesn't need to pay itself a licence for the Windows 8 software which other manufacturers will have to do, and that might make its PC and tablet-making partners unhappy," said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at the technology consultants Gartner.

She added that the firm appeared to have focused on a specific part of the market which wanted a more powerful device than the iPad.

"They seem to be be targeting a professional audience," she said.

"So they are going head-to-head with Apple within the corporate sector. Price will be key - these devices won't be at the bottom end of the market. They will probably let other manufacturers fight over that space."

By contrast the tech research firm Forrester said it thought the focus for ARM-based Surface tablets would be consumers, rather than the enterprise sector.

But one of its analysts warned there was a risk customers would shy away if they found it confusing distinguishing between the two types of Windows 8 experience. This will be the first time Microsoft will offer a version of its PC system designed for chips based on ARM's architecture.

"Microsoft will be its own worst enemy in this market,"blogged Sarah Rotman Epps.

"Consumers aren't used to thinking about chipsets. Choice is a key tenet of Windows, but too much choice is overwhelming for consumers. Apple gets this, and limits iPad options to connectivity, storage, and black… or white."

ARM's ambitions

Despite the potential for confusion, British chip designer ARM said it was "excited" by the news.

The firm's designs have already proved popular with smartphone makers, but Microsoft's support for its technology in Windows 8 offers it the potential to expand into a market dominated until now by Intel and AMD.

"This represents a significant milestone in Microsoft's journey to expand the support of the Windows operating system and embrace the ARM architecture," said Lance Howarth, the firm's vice president of marketing.

"With the Surface for Windows RT announcement we are delighted to see yet another example of this partnership in action which follows on from various Windows RT devices demonstrated at Taiwan's Computex show recently."

Intel said it was also "pleased" about Microsoft's move.

"Intel believes in and supports an open and healthy ecosystem that delivers a broad scale of innovation and choice in solutions and user experiences," a statement said.

"We also believe Windows 8 on Intel architecture will deliver the most complete experience with the best performance and compatibility across all computing platforms."