Mr. Peanut is back, but Planters is giving away its Super Bowl ad cash

After an unexpected death, a star-studded Super Bowl funeral, and an apparent reincarnation, Planters’ monocled Mr.Peanut is back.

But instead of running a Super Bowl spot this year, the snack brand is giving away the $ 5 million it would spend on running one.

Kraft HeinzThe one-year lifecycle campaign around Mr.Peanut results in a new story on Monday and the announcement that Planters will receive about $ 5 million that they would normally spend on a Super Bowl ad slot and instead channel that money to get to know the people who do it for charity. The brand calls the game of positioning snacks as a fundamental alternative to options such as potato chips “drastic actions.”

According to Sanjiv Gajiwala, Kraft Heinz’s chief growth officer in the US, the new campaign with VaynerMedia represents a wider change in how the company plans to do some of its future marketing.

In weeks before last year’s NFL championship gamePlanters posted a video showing Mr. Peanut sacrificing himself to save actors Wesley Snipes and Matt Walsh by diving to death. Then, during the game, the brand publishes the funeral of the walnut. It ended with a Baby Hazelnut that grew from the ground with the tear of Kool-Aid Adam.

Unusual campaign was everywhere: Mr. Pistachio “Saturday Night Live” cold clear set in hell. He became The plot of the New Yorker cartoon with the headline: “The good news is he donated his organs to peanut butter.” People loved or hated him, but it definitely got noticed.

“Last year, we set the goal of having the most talked about Super Bowl commercial ever made with Planters. And we did it with the unexpected death of Mr. Peanut,” Gajiwala said. “We had 11 billion impressions last year. There’s a lot of news around that. And throughout the year, Mr. Peanut has appeared in culture in very different ways.”

Baby Nut throughout the year has grown He turned into a 21-year-old boy and eventually a middle-aged nutty man named Bart. On Friday, the brand video posted on social media, “I found my monocle. See you soon.” He released a teaser with his article.

But moving forward, Kraft wants Planters to have a different relationship with consumers – perhaps a slightly more solid one.

Gajiwala said the brand wants to get to know people who are taking steps to help after many challenges in 2020. The company said this could be in the form of a couple donating the catering of a canceled wedding to those in need, or someone paying a neighbor’s overdue electricity bills.

The company said it will announce its first buyer this week and will make more statements on social media during the Super Bowl. He then plans to continue finding people who will be featured throughout the year.

The cultivators give them money as a reward in some cases, while in other cases they give them money to help them continue their work with donations. The company did not say how many people will receive funding, but said it is determined to use all of the $ 5 million it will spend on advertising in the big game Sunday.

Gajiwala said this was linked to where Kraft Heinz wanted to carry its marketing. He said that instead of talking about the brand itself, the company wanted to establish more frequent, daily connections with consumers.

“We try to pass from talking from time to time … [around] moving towards interacting every day about the important moments, the things they care about. “For us, that means reorienting our marketing teams to focus on agility, thinking about how we can create more meaningful content that connects with our consumers in more creative ways. And most importantly, around the moments that matter to the consumer.”

It’s a more plausible note than the crazy year the brand has had, but it’s hoped people will like it.

“In terms of tone and action, it will be very different from where we have been in the past. And so I think it will be a bit of a surprise,” he said. But given the component of celebrating goodness, I think “consumers will celebrate this and hopefully accept it as the first step in a journey for us.”

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