Following olive oil brand Graza’s recent extension into mayonnaise, the privately held company is embracing a number of marketing strategies designed to help it evolve into a national staple with broad distribution.
Key to these efforts is a NASCAR sponsorship that looks to integrate the brand into the culture and experience of the sport, said Vice President of Marketing Alex Edelstein. Graza, which launched in 2022, considers itself a challenger brand, given its origins in the olive oil category that’s filled with legacy players that are over 100 years old and operate differently.
“We see that as such a great opportunity for building a different kind of connection with the customer,” said Edelstein.
The push into mayonnaise arrives at a moment when competition is growing in the category. For Graza, there was a clear alignment between NASCAR and Graza, Edelstein noted. For instance, NASCAR is known for its tailgating culture, as more than 100,000 fans often show up to races, including many who cook while camping out the week leading up to it, the executive explained.
Bringing Graza to the racetrack
Following its appointment as the official olive oil and mayonnaise brand of NASCAR in February, Graza launched the campaign “The Hot Lap Test.” During a 30-second ad that aired on an Aug. 8 NASCAR race broadcast, a stock car pit crew member drizzles Graza’s extra virgin olive oil and then cracks an egg on the hood of a car. Hot laps are a full-speed practice lap in racing terminology.
“How many hot laps heat a hood hot enough to sizzle an egg sunny-side up?” a narrator asks before the stock car revs its engine.
“Lap one. Lap two. Lap three,” the narrator continues as the camera shows the egg cooking on the burning hot hood of the car speeding around the track.
“Looks like we’re cooking,” the narrator says, as the car stops at a checkered flag with the egg fully cooked.
“The Hot Lap Test,” made with agency Nice&frank, is meant to capture the “pace and energy and feel of a NASCAR race, and then pair [it] with the playfulness and the tone that Graza has,” said Edelstein. The ad, directed by Jasper Cable-Alexander with Drool production company, is being featured during NASCAR race and pre-race broadcasts on the CW and NBC through the rest of the season, which ends in November.
Graza also served as the primary partner of RFK Racing driver Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 Ford Mustang during a NASCAR Cup Series race on March 1, and as an associate partner on teammate Ryan Preece’s No. 60 Ford Mustang throughout the season.
The brand spent several months working with NASCAR’s partnership and leadership teams on broad-based integrations designed to give Graza different types of access to the sport.
That includes a custom Graza food truck at races throughout the season to connect with the fans at the NASCAR fan experience area where the tailgating cooking is happening, and on the RFK Racing cars so the brand shows up on the racetrack itself. The brand has also been integrated into NASCAR broadcasts, with on-air talent doing cooking demonstrations and competitions.
“It's really part of this 360 integration into the sport,” said Edelstein.
Amplifying a focus on quality
The NASCAR partnership is meant to support Graza’s “Seriously Serious” platform, which launched in March and was designed to mark its entrance into the mayonnaise category. The effort also included a sponsorship of the latest season of Bravo’s “Top Chef” cooking show.
A key focus of the brand platform is showcasing the company’s obsession with the quality of its product, Edelstein noted. Included are multiple national TV spots, with one depicting the 22,353 testing spoons used by a fictional employee named Garcia to perfect Graza’s mayonnaise recipe.
“[The effort showcases the] intensity and the seriousness with which we take our products and our approach to food,” said Edelstein. “And then the playfulness… it’s silly almost how seriously we take food and the quality of our oil.”
The platform’s launch corresponds with the brand’s foray into other 100% extra virgin olive oil-centered food categories, including potato chips.
The potato chips, cooked in its extra virgin olive oil, come in four flavors, and Edelstein reports they have been a hit on social media and with influencers — particularly the Zesty Caesar flavored chips. The brand is promoting the chips with messaging centered on how Graza only uses the best potatoes when making the product.
“This was really an opportunity to combine the history of the brand, which is fun and playful, food obsessed, finding the unique and fun and enjoyable experiences in cooking and then bringing it to this quality product platform as we expand it outside of the olive oil category into mayonnaise, and then now potato chips.”
Challenger brand mindset
The brand’s marketing team is small and operates on a limited budget, said Edelstein. Careful planning and company-wide coordination went into the decision to push the brand’s chips into the partnership with NASCAR, including conversations across different departments within the business. The marketing team, for example, got the sales team’s thoughts on the campaign and the partnership with NASCAR, and coordinated with finance and operations on how to get food service and concessions into the NASCAR experience.
Ultimately, the brand believed the partnership is right since it combines “fun cultural ideas with the data-driven story,” Edelstein said.
Other recent efforts to grow loyalty with consumers include a partnership with the New York Liberty basketball team of the WNBA this season — including in-arena concessions integrations, digital signage and concourse activations during home games. The brand is highlighting the team’s top scorers each game by posting the Graza-sponsored Sizzle Stats on social media, featuring a sponsored Row Race for fans during games, and is sponsoring the fourth quarter on the jumbotron.
The moves are key to Graza’s goal of building a brand that engages with its customers beyond pricing and promotions, Edelstein said.
“[That] is why we invest in these unique partnerships and activities,” said Edelstein.
