A Peek Inside Nutter Butter’s Bizarre TikTok Strategy
A fun story in the New York Times, offers a case study for Nutter Butter, a sandwich-cookie brand owned by Mondelez. The brand has taken a unique approach to social media, particularly on TikTok, where its absurd, surreal, and chaotic videos have amassed tens of millions of views. Their content, which blends psychedelic visuals, unexpected themes, and quirky humor, has grown into a viral sensation. The videos include everything from peanut butter crime scenes to dancing cookies layered over images of cats (below) and shrimp. Although perplexing at times, the strategy, as explained by Mondelez and Dentsu Creative, has cultivated a massive following, with over 87 million views in just one month.
The brand’s marketing team emphasizes that if a video makes too much sense, it doesn’t perform well. Nutter Butter’s success, they say, comes from committing to the absurdity and allowing a “Nutterverse” — full of quirky characters and surreal situations — to grow organically based on audience interaction. Aidan, a superfan turned employee, is one such character who was integrated into the brand’s lore after consistently commenting on posts.
The lack of traditional structure in planning content, along with a focus on user comments and creative spontaneity, has led to a winning formula. While some may find the content confusing or disturbing, it has generated widespread buzz and renewed consumer interest in the cookie.
Relevant textbook chapters
This campaign reflects key insights from Chapter 13: Promotion—Introduction to Integrated Marketing Communications and Chapter 16: Publicity Using Earned, Owned, and Social Media. In these chapters, the importance of using a blend of paid, earned, and owned media is stressed, as well as how different types of content—whether advertising, personal selling, or publicity—can be used to foster brand awareness and create deeper consumer connections.
Nutter Butter’s strategy is particularly relevant in its use of social media for “earned media,” where audience interaction drives the story. The surreal content appeals to Gen Z, a demographic more interested in irreverent, nontraditional branding. This tactic mirrors the importance of adapting promotional strategies based on audience behavior (providing a possible link to Chapter 4).
In-Class Activity Ideas
You could have a lot of fun with this in class. Consider the following:
- Create Absurd Ads: Students can design their own absurd, surreal marketing campaigns for traditional brands. They’ll need to consider how absurdity can capture attention while still conveying key messages.
- Analyze Nutterverse: Ask students to dissect different elements of Nutter Butter’s TikTok strategy. What’s working? What isn’t? How can they apply similar strategies to other brands?
- User Feedback Challenge: Have students review the comments and interactions on viral TikTok campaigns. How can brands use consumer input to evolve content?
Discussion questions (and answers)
- Why does Nutter Butter’s campaign work for their audience?
- The bizarre, nonlinear content taps into a cultural trend of embracing absurdity, particularly appealing to younger, internet-savvy audiences (Chapter 16).
- How does Nutter Butter integrate earned, owned, and paid media into their strategy?
- By combining owned media (like their TikTok account) with earned media (viral shares and comments), the brand builds momentum without significant traditional advertising spend (Chapter 16).
- How does the Nutter Butter strategy follow the “STEPPS to go viral” in the What’s Next? box in Chapter 16?
- The STEPPS model suggests different “STEPPS” that can help something go viral. There is certainly some “social currency” in being aware of this campaign, “emotion” might play into this as some of the posts play on fear, and the short videos sometimes appear to have a “story” to it.
- What are the risks of this type of marketing strategy?
- Such a strategy can alienate audiences unfamiliar or uncomfortable with surreal humor, especially older demographics. It also risks appearing insincere or forced (Chapter 13).
- How does consumer feedback shape Nutter Butter’s content?
- The Nutter Butter team closely monitors user comments to identify trends, characters, or themes to bring back, ensuring that the audience feels included in content creation (Chapter 16).
- Is this campaign sustainable for the long-term? Why or why not?
- While the campaign is successful now, its longevity depends on continued engagement and whether it can adapt to changing consumer tastes (Chapter 13).
- What lessons can other brands learn from Nutter Butter’s TikTok strategy?
- Other brands can learn the value of experimentation, audience involvement, and the strategic use of humor to foster engagement (Chapter 13).
A first draft of this blog post was generated by ChatGPT.