THE CHALLENGE

While Americans are loud and proud when it comes to their love for condiments like ketchup and mustard, mayonnaise held just 12% of the share of voice vs. other condiments in media conversation from August 2018 to August 2023. This silence is deafening for Hellmann’s who wants its fans to be as exuberant as other condiments’ fans.

The brand wanted us to supercharge conversation around Hellmann’s and grow positive sentiment in the media.

THE STRATEGY

Our strategy was to transform the secret and private world of mayo-fandom into a public movement, by tapping into a very public cultural conversation.

As the only athlete invited to the National Football League (NFL) draft event not to be picked in the first round, quarterback (and mayo fan) Will Levis was publicly embarrassed. Given the love he had showed us in the past through a viral video where he added mayo to his coffee, we decided to return the favour during his greatest time of need. So, we swooped in and were the first to offer him a very tasty deal: a lifetime’s supply of Hellmann’s mayonnaise.

To make the most of this one-of-a-kind deal, we created a mock sports press conference – the kind usually reserved for big announcements. Our conference featured Will Levis taking Q&A from reporters while pouring mayo into his coffee, sipping nonchalantly on his signature coffee drink, and then dolloping the condiment all over his muffin.

THE EXECUTION

We executed a creative contract with a football star and filmed content to take full advantage of our earned moment. Our team crafted and executed a targeted media strategy: top tier media were offered interviews with Levis under embargo, and on launch day, top tier media across lifestyle verticals, sport, ad and local were targeted with pitches, driving a second surge in coverage as our embargoed interviews went live.

Our team and Levis shared the collaborative story and in-feed Instagram posts to release the press conference to our respective mayo-and-sports loving social media audiences, and we leveraged high-quality PNGs of the ‘conference’ for syndication, leading local news channels and social media users to quickly republish our announcement.

Maintaining momentum, once Will was selected by the Tennessee Titans and eventually became the starting quarterback, we honoured his season with the ultimate tribute – immortalizing him with a bust made of mayonnaise.

THE OUTCOME

Our campaign demonstrated the passionate enthusiasm of mayo-lovers, placing Hellmann’s at the forefront of the conversation. The campaign garnered 4.7 billion impressions and over 600 media placements. In key markets, Kentucky and Tennessee, Hellmann’s experienced a 16% year-over-year sales growth. The campaign achieved an 87% Top 2 Box Hellmann’s favorability and an 85% Top 2 Box purchase intent. Media coverage was overwhelmingly positive, with 98% positivity, and media sentiment increased from 23% to 46%, marking a 100% improvement over the same period.