Popchips introduced its newest line of peanut butter snacks, Nutter Puffs, to consumers through a months-long campaign, culminating with a party hosted by Snoop Dogg. Earned media and influencers played a key role throughout the campaign.
Popchips and its PR AOR, Third Street Media Group, began planning for the campaign in the summer of 2017.
The overarching strategy was to develop a campaign that celebrated America’s love of peanut butter, while introducing the new puffed concept to current Popchips consumers.
“In terms of our overall goals, being known traditionally as a potato chip brand, product awareness was huge for us, and we also were very focused on product trial,” explained Jennifer Santiago, director of marketing for Popchips, Nutter Puffs.
The campaign team looked to introduce the brand based on Popchips’ core standards of an all-natural product offering.
peanut butter just got #peanutbetter. introducing our latest creation, @nutterpuffs. it’s peanut butter, perfected!
follow @nutterpuffs, for all the tasty updates. pic.twitter.com/MwYwctXAnk
— popchips (@popchips) March 2, 2018
The road tour
The week of October 9, Popchips began a media tour in New York City with Santiago and Popchips CMO Marc Seguin. The duo landed interviews and introduced the product to editors from outlets including BuzzFeed, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, InStyle, and O Magazine.
“We had a strong feeling that once we got this product in front of consumers and media, their response would be positive,” said Bill Harrison, cofounder of Third Street Media Group.
The week of February 12, the brand began sending out product mailers to media outlets and 100 mommy bloggers.
“We designed a microchip in the mailer box that actually sang to you as you opened it, and we also had custom branded socks made to look like empty peanut butter jars,” explained Santiago.
On March 1, National Peanut Butter Lovers Day, Popchips used social posts to tease the product and drive awareness of the new Nutter Puffs social channels.
The brand also partnered with social influencers to develop content and drive social buzz. Influencers included Danielle Monet, a blogger and actress with 2.2 million Instagram followers, and Matt Cutshall, a comedian with 680,000 Instagram followers.
The brand officially introduced the product on March 9 at Expo West in Anaheim, California, the world’s largest natural foods expo. More than 80,000 people attended the event.
On March 20, the brand hosted an event at Los Angeles hotel Chateau Marmont that had the look and feel of an underground house party, where you might find people snacking on PB&J sandwiches. Popchips brought in Snoop Dogg to host and DJ the party as they believed he was the ideal maestro to spread the word about the product to his massive social fan base. Snoop has more than 18 million followers on Twitter and more than 23.4 million followers on Instagram.
The average Popchips customer is focused on the product’s healthy aspects. The aim of the Chateau Marmont event was to create an environment where influencers who attended could share the experience on social in a way that would help drive product appeal to a more party-friendly crowd.
Shout out 2 @nutterpuffs from @popchips oohwee. #puffpuffpass #getpuffed #ad pic.twitter.com/pMHW5em6eL
— Snoop Dogg (@SnoopDogg) April 13, 2018
Spreading the word
The Nutter Puffs launch campaign garnered 50 total media placements, in outlets such as BuzzFeed, Forbes, OK!, Food Business News, People, US Weekly, and Popsugar.
The campaign generated more than 2,100 social posts about the new product, resulting in more than 265,000 social engagements, measured via likes, shares, and favorites.
The March 20 launch event was attended by 150 influencers, VIP guests, and select media, including actress Eiza Gonzalez, influencers Cory Tran, Trey Kennedy, and My Sequin Life, as well as reporters from Los Angeles Times, Vogue, and The Hollywood Reporter.
