Trolli builds on 190% gain in e-commerce with new monster spots

Dive Brief:

Ferrara Candy unveiled its latest ad campaign for Trolli gummy candy, building on the success of last year's effort that helped to drive a 190% jump in e-commerce shipments, according to details the company shared with Marketing Dive. Trolli experienced $12.8 million in new sales that included the introduction of its Crunchy Crawlers product.
Trolli's 2019 campaign also boosted awareness by 30% from a year earlier and engagement on social channels by 100%, with an engagement rate on photo-sharing app Instagram that was 222% greater than average for the food and beverage industry. Sales for its Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers rose 9%, about 2.5 times faster than average for the category.
For this year's effort, Trolli again worked with ad agency Wieden+Kennedy, animation shop Blinkink and creators Becky Sloan and Joseph Pelling. They created two 15-second spots titled "Mouth Monster" and "Hiding Place," along with two six-second versions for digital video and a 15-second spot for its Trolli Bag package of gummy candy.

Dive Insight:

Ferrara Candy's latest campaign comes after the confectioner saw positive results for last year's effort that was the biggest in Trolli's history. The "It's Trolli" campaign was notable for its dark sense of humor, as seen in its 15-second spot titled "Cupboard" showing a monster's transformation into a happy character after eating Trolli candy.

The mood reflected the sensibility of creators Sloan and Pelling, whose "Don't Hug Me I'm Scared" horror comedy series became a pop-culture phenomenon after premiering in 2011. The campaign's positive results affirmed that the creative approach was successful in reaching Trolli's target audience and informed the strategy behind this latest campaign.

As part of its effort to reach younger consumers, Trolli is planning to collaborate with Sony PlayStation on an exchange program, Candy Industry reports. The program will give gamers a chance to win prizes and receive a free trial of PlayStation Plus, the gaming platform's subscription service. That marketing effort can help to drive new memberships of PlayStation Plus and sales of Trolli candy among younger consumers who are most likely to play video games. About 75% of U.S. households have at least one gamer, and 21% of those gamers are younger than 18 years old, per a study by the Entertainment Software Association.

Trolli's latest campaigns follow other offbeat efforts to connect with younger consumers. To honor basketball player James Harden's NBA MVP award in 2018, the brand created sneakers inspired by the basketball star's signature model with Adidas. The Sour Brite James Harden Sneaks, weighing six pounds, were made of candy and sold online for $2,677, matching the number of points he scored to lead the league. Proceeds from the sale of the candy shoe went to the his 3 the Harden Way foundation.