As one in every of Mondelēz Worldwide’s smaller manufacturers, Nutter Butter is given extra freedom to experiment with its social media exercise than its bigger siblings like Oreo and Bitter Patch Children. That has allowed Dentsu Inventive to craft an Instagram technique for the model so offbeat that some followers have expressed shock that it isn’t a parody account.
On Jan. 31, the model posted an image of a family-size pack of the cookies with the phrase “household” overlaid with the identify Aidan, and the remark: “Transferring ahead, I’ll solely reply to you in case your identify is Aidan.” The submit was a tribute to a long-term superfan of the model named Aidan, however its absurdist humor took off with Gen Z customers.
Incomes greater than 11,000 likes, the submit outperformed in attain and engagement in comparison with exercise from the 12 months earlier than and helped Nutter Butter double its variety of Instagram followers in two weeks, attracting Gen Z customers with a style for the absurd.
“This technology is ready the place they’re uninterested in being straight offered to, and so they’re uninterested in individuals pretending that their product is extra essential than different facets of the world,” Dentsu Inventive social technique supervisor Ryan Benson advised Adweek. “We’re in a position to relate in a approach that we’re like, that is all sort of foolish. Let’s simply chortle collectively.”
Since then, the model has continued to pepper its social media content material with “Aidan eggs.” Its Instagram bio reads: “Don’t learn in case your identify isn’t Aidan.” A Feb. 22 submit presents “AID4N” as a brand new film, riffing on the recognition of latest horror movie M3GAN.
A Feb. 15 submit tied to New York Vogue Week exhibits sharply dressed dolls with cookies for heads, together with one with an Aidan identify tag. A March 17 submit exhibits a giraffe sporting a locket resembling the cookie sandwich with a coronary heart that claims Aidan inside. Among the feedback ask if customers should purchase Aidan merch, noting that “whoever employed this man for PR did a very good job,” and even requesting to fulfill the one that runs the account.
Even when the posts don’t particularly name out Aidan, Dentsu is attempting to hold the identical offbeat power, typically utilizing blown-out audio or low-quality pictures.
Totally natural
“If we overdo it, it’s gonna get to the purpose the place it’s simply oversaturated,” Dentsu social media strategist Aubrey Burrough mentioned. “That’s the place you lose that absurdist, bizarre, Gen Z viewers. It’s actually toeing that line.”
Nutter Butter doesn’t do any paid social media exercise, and the Dentsu social groups work as an extension of the model group, with Mondelēz giving them a protracted leash moderately than searching for approval for each submit, Burrough defined.
“As a substitute of being the ninetieth model to hop on the bandwagon of some sort of large pattern, we discovered our area of interest right here with these actually small Gen Z traits,” she continued. “Even when our followers haven’t essentially seen it, we’ve discovered that they will nonetheless be engaged by it.”
