NERDS®’ first time at the Big Game had to be big.
With NERDS® sales surging (from $50 million to $500 million in just five years), newly seizing the No. 1 spot in the Sugar Confections category, and tripling its marketing spend, the time was right for the brand to make its debut on the world’s biggest stage, the Super Bowl.
The brand business objectives of the 360-campaign were to:
- Grow brand equity via broad relevance across generations through top-of-mind awareness and purchase consideration.
- Increase household penetration by 3 points by getting category and non-category consumers to purchase NERDS.
The PR objective was to:
- Make NERDS one of the most talked about brands activating during the Super Bowl.
The challenge was that NERDS was a first-time advertiser competing with ~60 advertising brands for attention. Many of these brands had much larger spends, featuring A-list Talent (and multiple celebrities at that), owning sponsorship rights, and more. To break through the competitive and cluttered news cycle, we needed to launch more than an ad, we had to create cultural relevance, a stand-out narrative and story arc, and intrigue that started long before the first coin toss.
Creating a new approach rooted in culture that would win over Gen Z and build a narrative with Addison Rae and the brand new NERDS Gummy character
Our strategies were to:
- Maximize the storytelling window from Q4-2023 through post-game with multiple pulse-points and fresh, relevant story angles. This included four (4) phases to get as much coverage and conversation as possible.
- Get NERDS credit for its brand business story, evolution and category leadership, using compelling statistics and proof points and Ferrara / NERDS leadership as spokespeople.
- Build intrigue and excitement ahead of the ad reveal, to get everyone wondering and talking about what NERDS might be up to.
- Insert brand in culture.
Execution included a four-prong approach:
- Announcement: Our first pulse shared that NERDS is going to the big game for the first time, leveraging the brand’s larger business story – its evolution, category leadership and impact – as a leading proof point for why this is the right moment for NERDS to take the world’s biggest stage.
- Teaser Drop: Golin concepted an earned-led creative teaser to build intrigue and excitement for our upcoming ad. The ad focused on a yet-to-be-revealed brand character (NERDS Gummy) dancing to “What a Feeling" performed by Irene Cara. We designed a teaser to create suspense around our mystery student, who was being coached by TikTok dance sensation, NERDS brand fan and Gen Z idol, Addison Rae. The teaser sparked chatter, and even prediction videos, among media, influencers and consumers alike. We amplified this moment with Addison as spokesperson, securing coverage in lifestyle and entertainment media we wouldn’t be able to secure with a Talent-less teaser.
- Pre-Game Ad Reveal: We released the official ad online a week ahead of the big game. This timing was selected to give a media outlet the exclusive, securing another bout of coverage. Consumers were delighted by the plot-twist introduction of NERDS Gummy – a new character made in the likeness of the NERDS® Gummy Clusters™ product. We worked with Good Morning America to allow the national morning show to be the first to share the ad before it was picked up everywhere – in roundups and stand-alone stories alike.
- Game Day and Post-Game: Media across verticals cranked out roundups and rankings of ad spots, most of which included NERDS, continuing the momentum.
Mic Drop.
The NERDS Super Bowl Campaign spanning from December to February had a direct, positive impact on the business, including 318 original earned placements, exceeding our KPI by 169%
Business
- +32 lift in consideration as a result of the Addison Rae teaser video. The PR-led teaser drove bigger lifts for consideration for NERDS than the Super Bowl ad did.
- 20.3% lift in unaided awareness for NERDS right after the Super Bowl.
- Increase from 1% in Q1 2023 to 5% in Q1 2024 of top-of-mind awareness for NERDS.
Communications
- NERDS ranked #1 in shares against all candy and snack brands
- NERDS ranked #25 among 59 ads for earned media placements
- NERDS came in 4th in leading Super Bowl coverage during December and January, just behind veteran brands Verizon, State Farm and Budweiser
- NERDS ranked #7 in total earned coverage shares
- 318 original earned placements, exceeding KPI by 169%
- 68% total placements in priority outlets
- 1/2 media coverage mentioned NERDS Gummy Clusters
