Dive Brief:

• Kraft Real Mayo conducted an experiment to see if expressing love for mayonnaise can boost appeal on the dating scene, per details shared with Marketing Dive. 
• For “Swipe Right for Mayo,” the condiment marketer created similar profiles for the same person on a dating app, with one displaying mayonnaise prominently and the other mayo-free. It then got to swiping in areas including New York, Los Angeles and Miami. 
• The mayo enthusiast option received a 74% increase in matches and a 16% increase in first messages received, per the Kraft Heinz brand. Now it is opening its Instagram direct messages to consumers 18 and older to help them “mayonize” their dating profiles with new bios and by photoshopping the spread into photos. 

Dive Insight:

Mayonnaise can be divisive at the dining table, but can it help someone find love? Kraft Real Mayo’s latest marketing experiment indicates “yes,” which is maybe as much of an indictment of a dating app scene overrun with tired, samey profiles as it is a booster for the condiment category. The effort was developed with agency The Kitchen, with media support from P57.  

Along with securing more matches and first messages, mayo enthusiasts in Kraft Real Mayo’s tests received smoother, higher-quality pick-up lines, according to the release. The brand would not disclose what app was used for “Swipe Right for Mayo,” but emphasized it is one of the better-known platforms in the current landscape. The “swipe right” terminology was popularized by Tinder, though other apps have adopted the format where people can choose whether or not they’re interested in another user with a swipe of their finger. 

Kraft Real Mayo is promoting the light-hearted campaign ahead of National Lover’s Day on April 23 with videos on TikTok and Instagram espousing how mayo can grow one’s romantic appeal. It is also offering to help consumers revamp their own profiles with some mayo-themed flare, a stealthy way to spread user-generated content on dating platforms that typically aren’t conducive to the format.  

The concept was inspired by the idea that differing food tastes can be a deal-breaker for some couples. Kraft Real Mayo cited a poll that found 14% of people would end a new relationship over mismatched palettes. That insight might lead one to assume that something as controversial as mayo is a no-go, which “Swipe Right for Mayo” seeks to disprove. Kraft Real Mayo has frequently embraced the condiment’s contentious qualities to position itself around a sense of foodie tribalism. 

“We choose to revel with our fans, and [‘Swipe Right for Mayo’] takes that revelry to the next level with a social experiment designed to test if our mayo freaks are actually more dateable,” said Frances Sabatier, brand manager at Kraft Real Mayo, in a statement. “Not only did we enjoy conducting this hilarious and lighthearted social experiment, but we loved that the results proved our hypothesis.”

Kraft Real Mayo has ramped up its advertising initiatives in recent years to stay competitive with rivals like Hellmann’s, which has had a bigger presence at marquee advertising events including the Super Bowl.