Dive Brief:

• Skippy, the Hormel Foods Corp. brand of peanut butter, launched a national advertising campaign called "Be Smooth Like Skippy" that puts a fresh spin on a recent hit song, a news release announced. 
• The campaign features 15- and 30-second spots starring child actor Cooper Friedman, who performs several "smooth" tasks while enjoying the peanut butter. In the ads, Friedman is backed by a variation on the hit song "Uptown Funk" from producer Mark Ronson and Grammy-winner Bruno Mars, which includes the lyrics "smoother than a fresh jar of Skippy."
• The full effort, created with BBDO Minneapolis, includes spots for national TV and digital and social video, and also showcases a new product, Skippy P.B. Bites, with 30-second ads offering "bite-sized advice on how to be smooth." 

Dive Insight:

By licensing the catchy "Uptown Funk," Skippy is clearly trying to worm its way back into consumers' brains for its second national marketing campaign in the past three years. Riding on the popularity of big hit pop singles isn't uncommon for brands: As part of its Winter Olympics marketing this year, Cheetos created a music video with USA Curling and the influencer Todrick Hall that put a spin on the 2011 song "Teach Me How to Dougie." 

As Americans' eating habits are evolving to become more health-conscious and focused on natural or organic foods, Skippy, like many legacy packaged foods brands, needs to preserve an element of freshness to remain at the top of consumers' shopping lists. The risk for Skippy and other companies that take the pop culture approach is relevancy. "Uptown Funk" is now four years old, meaning it might not be as top-of-mind for viewers, or worse, could feel played out after spending so long on the radio.   

Skippy is supporting the TV spots with digital integrations, including the hashtag #BeSmoothLikeSkippy and six-second ads on social media. The peanut butter marketer is the latest to embrace super-short spots that provide the type of snackable video content that consumers — especially younger ones — are proving amenable to. For its Super Bowl campaign this year, M&M's extended its in-game TV spot with six- and 15-second pre-roll ads on social media.