As football has evolved into the national sport, its audience has grown beyond generic sports lovers to include die-hard fantasy loyalists, casuals only in it for the game day party spread and everyone in between. The divisions between these cohorts — and the foods that bring them together — are at the heart of a new campaign from Hellmann’s, the Unilever brand that has worked to become synonymous with football culture and has seen continued sales momentum.
A 15-second spot features a handful of folks — including a new boyfriend who cluelessly exclaims, “He touched it down” and “Oh, great fumble” — that are united not by football fandom, but by food made with Hellmann’s.
“We thought it was a fun way to address the insight that there's many different types of football fans, including the boyfriend who's invited to a watch party and has no idea what's going on, but it's okay, because he brought the Buffalo chicken dip,” said Brent Lukowski, senior director of marketing for U.S. condiments at Unilever.
Developed by VML New York, the “Do Dip” campaign will run into December across national TV, streaming and social, with amplification by NFL team partnerships, in-stadium activations and retail media.
Cultural entry points
Over the last five years, Hellmann’s has focused marketing efforts around football because of the brand’s natural place at tailgates and watch-party spreads. But in several cases, its campaigns have used football as a starting point for forays into fashion, fragrance and beyond.
“We're constantly mining our audience data and understanding more about our target consumer. We found that there are many different dimensions of football fans. There are many cohorts that make up the general football fan group,” Lukowski said.
The brand in September launched “House of Hellmann’s,” an all-denim fashion collection that was released in collaboration with a player known for his fashion sense, New York Football Giants linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux. Previous efforts include partnering with mayo-loving NFL quarterback Will Levis for the world’s first “parfum de mayonnaise” and giving a recipe-focused spin to college football’s Heisman Trophy.
Each effort has a distinct set of KPIs with which to measure success.
“If it's more about trying to do something buzzy and become top of mind, we'll have impressions targets, trying to garner coverage, excitement and conversation on social as well as business metrics: household penetration, sales growth in a defined period, market share gains,” Lukowski explained.
Hellmann’s in recent years has worked to extend campaigns from top-of-the-funnel awareness plays down the path of purchase all the way through to retail touchpoints. That was the case with its efforts around its last Super Bowl ad, which reunited Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal for a riff on the movie “When Harry Met Sally.” The brand partnered with Roku and Walmart to run shoppable ads showing off how to make the turkey sandwich from the buzzy big game spot.
“The opportunity was a really unique one, because it brings together audience data with partners like Walmart and Roku, and enables us to have our ‘When Sally Met Hellman's’ campaign launch transcend the overall communications message right through ‘I can now buy this at Walmart with a couple clicks,’” Lukowski said.
Purpose-driven and social-first
While Hellmann’s tapped into pop culture nostalgia for its most recent Super Bowl spot, previous big game campaigns tied into the brand’s sustainability focused “Make Taste Not Waste” platform. And even when the platform has not appeared in ads, it has been a part of the brand’s on-the-ground-efforts at the Super Bowl and within NFL partner stadiums. Hellmann’s for the past two years also partnered with Food Recovery Network and supported the organization’s efforts to divert salvageable food to charities.
“Every year, when we set out our football strategy, we identify the lead objective for the program given the particular business need and the longer-term business strategy,” Lukowski said of “Make Taste Not Waste.” “We evolve the message dependent on what's critical for the business at that point in time… and we'll continue to adapt based on what we need to accomplish.”
Adapting to changing business realities, consumer behaviors and organizational priorities is a key focus of marketers, especially those that are part of CPG giants like Unilever. Hellmann’s parent company has made waves this year by making plans to shift 50% of ad spend to social-first marketing. For Hellmann’s, the new strategy reinforces how the brand has looked to capture attention around football culture.
“We know that there is a unique role that several channels play in any effective campaign, and we have seen really strong performance within those social channels, both from a brand perspective, as well by leveraging creators to help land our message and connect with communities in a really relevant way,” Lukowski said. “We've definitely seen success as we've shifted our strategy to incorporate some of these channels that are really resonating with consumers today.”
