Crock-Pot®, the brand, was innocent. That’s the truth, and that’s what we told the world. But to fans of the show, Crock-Pot® killed Jack. Indeed, a janky slow-cooker started the fire on the #1 hit drama show on national television, but that didn’t mean Crock-Pots were causing fires, burning down homes, or making children fatherless across the country. We needed to prove that we were innocent and separate the television storyline from a real-life brand crisis. We needed to turn enemies into friends and bring people together. To do so, we turned to the star of the show, bringing him back to life, and invited him to express that there was no bad blood between his character, Jack, and the slow-cooker. If Milo Ventimiglia (Jack) could publicly forgive Crock-Pot®, perhaps the public would listen and forgive as well. This would soon become the first ever apology by a TV actor.

Speed and creative ingenuity were the key ingredients that secured our innocence. Each activation invited unparalleled results through unexpected partners and fans. From our empathetic, yet playful social response and the creation of @CrockPotCares, the brand’s first Twitter account, we addressed the conversation head on. This, coupled with our interactions with the media, including the countless broadcast news coverage, late-night television monologues, and multiple references with the “Queen of Daytime Television,” Ellen DeGeneres — Crock-Pot® was proven innocent. For two weeks, the topic of ‘This Is Us’ and Crock-Pot® dominated social media and social circles alike. But we were just getting warmed up, and the pivotal moment in our execution exceeded everyone’s expectations. In partnership with the nation’s largest television network, Milo forgave the slow-cooker. Teased out on Today, and then amplified on social media, it was the first ever public apology by a TV actor in history.

Crock-Pot® answered with the first public apology by a TV actor in television history. Experts, media and public alike characterized the ‘apology’ as a “Crock-Pot® Super Bowl Ad”, a $5M+ value, costing the brand $0, declaring we were “winning the Super Bowl without even having a commercial.” The strategic release of the creative video (apology) on the Today Show, one day before Super Bowl 52, had an audience of 4.51M viewers (4.37M Twitter followers). We also launched @CrockPotCares, the brand’s first Twitter account to address concerns and questions. The account grew over 2000% within the first 48 hours.

Our efforts garnered over 3.7 billion impressions in less than three weeks of sustained coverage, resulting in 20,036 articles and 796,600+ social mentions. Despite being faced with the biggest crisis in the brand’s history, Crock-Pot® did not experience a decline in sales. Rather, sales increased 3.1% YoY, defying prior brand sales trends.