While Marketing VPs and Brand Managers are spending millions of dollars trying to craft “on brand” messages that resonate with specific demographics, consumers – empowered by digital, creative and social tools are creating their own experiences around the brands and products they love. Case in point: Ferrero’s Nutella. If you aren’t familiar with the delicious European hazelnut and cocoa spread yet, I suggest you run to the nearest grocery store and get acquainted with this chocolate-flavored nectar of the gods. (Warning: Nutella may be as addictive as crack cocaine, if not more.)
Though Nutella has garnered a pretty solid following on its Facebook fan page (over 3 million fans at last count), it still remains a fringe, slightly underground product in the United States. Squeezed between a half dozen different brands of peanut butter and a bouquet garni of jams and preserves flavors, Nutella is kind of easy to miss. Which may actually be its biggest asset: Because it isn’t widely enjoyed by everyone, Nutella lovers tend to regard their Nutellaness as special. Exclusive, even. Fans of Nutella value their passion for the unctuous chocolaty spread the way they do their love for all premium, slightly off the radar brands. So when they run into fellow fans of Nutella, sparks fly.
I have no idea if Ferrero (Nutella’s parent company) has any idea what has started to happen on twitter recently, but it’s nothing short of genius. Unprompted, Nutella fans started to discuss their love of what many affectionately call “black gold” or “chocolate heroin,” and the discussions started to snowball. Prompted by the constant Nutella discussions on Twitter, I bought a jar while at the grocery store. Evidently, others did too. Yes, you heard it right: Conversations about a product on Twitter led to an increase in sales of that product. This was completely unprompted by the Nutella product management team. This all happened purely as a peer-to-peer movement.
Not only that, but people previously unacquainted with Nutella found themselves intrigued enough by the discussions that they went out and bought their very first jars. Some (like fellow bloggers Steve Woodruff and Sonny Gill) even shared their first impressions of Nutella via video. Personally, I think that Steve’s YouTube “Nutella Newfella” idea would make a fantastic social campaign for a product like Nutella, with some pretty solid viral potential. Check it out:
Fellow Marketing honcha and blogger Kristi Colvin created a twitterface page specifically devoted to Nutella and its community of fans: www.twitterface.com/nuts-for-nutella to capture all Twitter mentions of Nutella in context . The page is even featured on twitterface’s home page. Do a google or Bing search for Nutella, and you start to find all kinds of quirky consumer-created content. Popular photo-sharing site Flickr has an extensive Nutella gallery. This year, in honor of International Nutella Day (you bet) the Ms. Adventures to Italy blog posted 50 ways for Nutella Virgins to enjoy their first taste of the nutty nectar. And then there’s stuff like this other video posted to youtube by a Nutella fan:
Crazy? You bet. Crazy good, that is.
Interestingly, no one is being rewarded by Ferrero or Nutella for producing this kind of content. There is no contest driving this. No prize money. No vacation sweepstakes. Not even the promise of free Nutella (though Nutella does have contests). People are creating this stuff for each other. To express, share and celebrate their passion for a quirky product they feel helps define them to some extent.
When you are lucky enough to manage a brand that people around the world are that passionate about, that has garnered such a vibrant community (which generates sales and recruits new customers all on its own) and promotes your product at every turn, wouldn’t it be nice to find ways to engage that community a little bit? Maybe help it in some way? Recognize it, even?Interestingly, Nutella’s product/brand management team doesn’t seem aware that any of this is going on. Nutella’s US website gives you the opportunity to share Nutella’s site via email, and evidently, Nutella prints T-shirts, muhs and spreading knives so you can show how much you dig the stuff, to your amigos and neighbors but that’s basically it. Really? In 2009? With the fan base behind the brand? That’s it? Hello?
When your fans are doing more all on their own to promote and share your brand (and contribute to sales), maybe it’s time to revamp your Marketing strategy a little bit. Or at least… update it. Not that any of our stuff is stellar or anything (heck, it’s actually pretty awful, though in a deliciously fun way), but you can’t beat passion, peer-to-peer recommendations, and the creative energy unleashed by the social tools at our disposal today. It all works pretty well in the end… but it would work so much better if you paid attention, realized that traditional marketing could be amplified by inspired community engagement, and… well, joined in the fun.
So come on, Nutella! We’re all having fun out here in the real world, sharing your awesome chocolaty spread with everyone we come in contact with. Are you going to join us or what? We’re ready for you. 😉
Full Disclosure: This post was fueled by several mouthfuls of Nutella.
Brand Building and Online Marketing Blog 
I’ve enjoyed Nutella since a child when I lived overseas. I like it straight up, on toast with peanut butter or warm in the middle of an empanada.
I need to experiment with it more. I just spoon it and enjoy it on crepes, but that’s it. 🙂
LOL! I totally didn’t realize that was you in the picture until a second glance.
Though I’ve become a true believer in the product and this is a lot of fun, you’re totally spot on that Nutella should change their marketing strategy and at least listen and respond to what’s being said and created by their community.
Really a huge opportunity by them to build off of the media we’ve created and also their millions of fans on Facebook. Let’s hope they start to open their eyes a bit!
*runs to the kitchen for some Nutella*
Well first, I have to start out by saying that I didn’t know there were people out there who hadn’t heard of Nutella! A Europen breakfast staple, Nutella is about as necessary in the kitchen as, well, a toilet is in the bathroom. (Sorry for that horrible analogy).
I’m embarrased to say that Nutella lives well beyond the breakfast for me. I’d wager to say that most people are quite ritualistic when they eat it. I, myself, eat it with a spoon right out of the package – morning, noon or night. I also love it spread on a crepe with bananas.
I do hope that Ferraro leverages this new awakening!
I’m doing a presentation on SM and specifically the business of Twitter, and I think this would be such a great case-study on how conversations about brands take place. Any additional information / follow ups you can provide me would be fantastic.
Yeah, Nutella isn’t big yet in South Carolina. Apple butter, on the other hand… 😀
We had a tweet up with Nutella cupcakes for @missdestructo’s birthday. That was totally twitter generated. I wouldn’t have found our common love of Nutella if it weren’t for all the late night Nutella conversations
This is a great post, Olivier. Not just because it’s about one of my favorite treats, but you hit the nail on the head for so many big brands that seem strangely lacking in the social media/community-oriented spaces, or that just seem strange, even if they are there (pushing out one-way broadcasts, having snappy interactions with customers, acting “above” their fans, having a presence on a social network site but not really being there, etc.)
I feel this is a post every single CMO of every single product being sold today should read… what Nutella has going on, on their behalf, that I assume they realize but just have not acknowledged in public, is the Nirvana of most marketing teams. People are having fun with their passionate love of this silly product and spreading the word 24/7, 365 days a year (which is why I made that Twitterface page)… and not just in one country, but GLOBALLY. It doesn’t get any sweeter than that.
Thanks for your continued leadership and deep insights in the branding, marketing and lately, social media space. I can’t say it enough… you just rock! You have the gifts of intuition & foresight as well as the ability to clearly articulate problems and solutions when you see them. What a brain. 🙂
Thanks, Kristi.
Yep. You framed the problem very well:
“So many big brands seem strangely lacking in the social media/community-oriented spaces even if they are there (pushing out one-way broadcasts, having snappy interactions with customers, acting “above” their fans, having a presence on a social network site but not really being there, etc.)”
vs.
“People are having fun with their passionate love of product and spreading the word 24/7, 365 days a year … and not just in one country, but GLOBALLY. It doesn’t get any sweeter than that.”
The disconnect between the two is… tragic.
Kris,
You are so right! A Nutella-type movement (if I can call it that) is the Holy Grail for marketers.
I would add, however, that it started with a new (to most in the US), exiting, unusual product that surprised and delighted people. You would struggle to get the same sort of WOM groundswell with something mundane.
It has to begin with a “remarkable” product.
Because it’s a nut-based spread, it survives heating surprisingly well, better than actual chocolate of the same volume. Take some nutella and put it in a non-reactive, microwave safe dish. Zap until gooey. Then use it as chocolate dip for your favorite fruit – strawberries, bananas, whatever.
Dude. It says it right on the jar: Do not microwave. You rebel, you. 😀
I’d try to microwave it, but it never quite has time to make it from the jar to the microwave oven without somehow ending up in my belly.
Great stuff as always. Let my comments here: http://bit.ly/e09rT
Nutella is all my kids will eat here in Israel on our vacation — daily doses work as a snack, or for breakfast lunch or dinner if the kibbutz food doesn’t appeal, generously slathered on bread. It will probably become a household staple upon our return….
How can Kibbutz food not appeal?! That’s just crazy talk. What’s not to like? 😀
But yeah, Nutella can make any unfortunate travel diet right again. That stuff is pretty delicious.
Olivier,
A truly fascinating post and that’s the power of a lovable product I guess.
Perhaps Nutella isn’t ready to communicate because they don’t know exactly who they are (besides the obvious) and why they matter even though they’ve established their authentic and unique place within the market.
I find this post particularly interesting as some brands do operate under a rather passive social mode. Maybe it’s the mindset of their marketing team or they simply need a reminder from people like Kris and you to start having fun again.
I guess I gotta go get myself a jar, found it at my local Target, perfect!
See? We’ve already had a positive impact on sales: We’ve recruited net new customers and increased the purchasing frequency of existing customers. 😀
Ferrero’s marketing team is still obviously living in the 80’s and in a “don’t rock the boat” mode. Understandable in Europe where their products are strong, but the US/Canada market requires a little more… attention if they ever want to see serious numbers.
Funny/sad note: The jar I bought last week had a promo sticker on it dating back to June of 2008. That’s how long it had been sitting in a warehouse waiting to end up on a shelf. No jar of Nutella should have to wait 12+ months from production to consumption. That’s just lame.
Is some of the appeal in being a fanatic about this product not coming from the fact that they are low key and aren’t doing anything to promote through SM channels? If they went after it the way that some companies are, would we talk/blog/twitter about them as often? I do think they’re unwise to ignore what’s going on here but at the same time perhaps some of the appeal is that they’re not in this space.
I was reading about a particular beer that’s brewed by monks in Belgium not long ago. The only place to buy that beer is at the monastery and you have to wait as much as four months to get an appointment to make a purchase. The folks who’ve had it are fanatical about it in much the same way as this blog post describes but in a far more limited fashion.
There’s a very tricky balance to creating the kind of product that builds this following and not screwing it up by trying to appeal to everyone.
To some extent yes. Nutella is special because relatively few people in the US know about it. If everyone loved Nutella, it wouldn’t be a big deal. People would just generally accept that Nutella is delicious. So yes, you’re right.
But here’s where it potentially gets interesting for Ferrero’s US sales team: They have virtually no penetration in the US. Compared to Tic-Tacs and Rocher, Nutella is nowhere. Worse yet, compared to other spreads like peanut butter, Nutella isn’t even on the radar (compared to other parts of the world). The end-game isn’t to make Nutella super cool the way Apple is cool. The end-game is to get more people to buy Nutella regularly. In other words, adoption is more important than cult status. Cult status though, is the vehicle that could/should drive an acceleration in adoption.
So what the Nutella product team should be doing is exploiting Nutella’s cult status to broaden and accelerate adoption, and SM is already proving to be a kickass vehicle to accomplish this.
Unfortunately, they aren’t doing jack. Yet.
It is difficult to understand why Ferrero has simply never made much of a U.S. move with Nutella, or more recentlynever embraced any of the energy and public interest even before the viral spread of the LOVE through SM channels. For years they seamed perfectly happy with it’s “specialty goods” position in the land of peanut butter. It arrived on Publix shelves by store decision after repeated requests from shoppers (count me among them).
Nutella has been a staple in our house since my firstborn was old enough to leave a handprint on the wall-20 years ago. In Europe Nutella snack packs (“Nouveau! Nutella & GO)” are everywhere now -My daughter just came back with a backpack full.
Oh, and for your Nutella adventures branching out from Crèpes:
– on Vanilla ice cream
– petits beurres & nutella sandwich (favorite quatr’heure)
– Crème Anglaise + Nutella swirled together (better than the white/dark in a jar)
– And of course, spooned out all by itself
I wonder how difficult it would be to get the Ferrero team on the phone. Hmmm. 😉
I’ve had the luxury of working with a brand that has similar consumer sentiment as Nutella. I believe the thread of commonality between brands like Nutella, or at least what we can see when we listen to how people talk about the product, is emotion. When enough people use words like “love” when talking about a product, you know you’ve got a winner.
If you can see your SOV (Share of Voice) increase online, through an increase in velocity of conversation, then there is an increase in sales, wouldn’t that show that online WOM has a strong play to increase sales?
Absolutely.
Olivier,
We were visiting family and friends in Minnesota a few weeks ago (I’m American but I’ve lived in the UK for 15 years. My kids were born here.). The kids ate a lot of Nutella while we were there.
As we were packing to go, my step-sister presented my kids with jars to take back with them. I thought it was a little strange since Nutella is fairly common in the UK and, even more so, in Europe generally. I assumed she just didn’t know about Nutella’s background (why would she).
But reading your post I now realise there is more to it; there is a Nutella subculture operating in America. The sort of subculture where people “in the know” feel a particular type of enthusiasm about being a part of.
On some level, my step-sister thought she was introducing my kids to the “Nutella clued-in club.”
Of course, like all cool subcultural movements, it will lose its “cred” as the mainstream adopts it.
It’s still be delicious, though. 🙂
Is it the “cred” that counts…or the flavor? I mean, I’m sure the cred counts for something, but don’t you think the love is not about the popularity or lack of such, but the plain old yumminess factor. (spell check says that’s not a word lol)
Why yumminess isn’s a word, I don’t know.
It’s a word if we want it to be a word 🙂
You’re right, Cindy, the flavour is what counts. As I said above in reply to Kristi Colvin’s comment, the whole “movement” goes nowhere if Nutella isn’t delicious.
(I should add that I haven’t actually looked closely at the Nutella craze so don’t know if there is actually any street cred associated with it – probably not in the usual sense – but I figure there will be at least a few who view Nutella as “their find” and who will be slightly annoyed if everyone else starts enjoying it.)
Nutella is pretty big in India too. There has never been a single advertisement or featured in the media yet most young urban Indian households have this on their shelf. I first had Nutella 10 years ago, since then I am a regular eater of it ( straight out of the jar). It has become popular purely from word of mouth.
Австралийская фирма Lux Prestige известная в Европе фирма, которая уже многие годы занимается не только распространением, но и изготовлением изделий, которые укрепляют и сохраняют наше с вами здоровье. Мы молодая, динамично развивающаяся компания, одна из немногих, кто представляет качественные натуральные изделия для сна. Мы любим свое дело и можем гордиться нашими изделиями. Специалисты нашей компании не только разрабатывают изделие по вашим индивидуальным потребностям, но и смогут профессионально подобрать и проконсультировать Вас при выборе изделий для здорового сна. Всё для здоровья, тепла и уюта в Вашем доме.
Feliz aquele que vence o egoísmo, alcança a paz, encontra a verdade. A verdade liberta-nos do mal; não há no mundo libertador igual. Confia na verdade, mesmo que não sejais capazes de compreendê-la, mesmo que no começo vos pareça amarga a sua doçura.Com amor e caridade não tem tem erro aproxima as pessoas do progresso.Obrigado!!!