People see Kraft Real Mayo as a private label value product lacking top-of-mind brand awareness. We see ourselves as a challenger brand without CPG baggage. We know where we stand: we’re for the mayo lovers. We're on a mission to champion people who revel in their individuality and inspire mayo lovers to let their Mayo freak flags fly.

We set out to create a brand act that gives mayo lovers more ways to let their freak flag fly, create inescapable conversation around mayo love through a relevant yet unexpected act, and ultimately evolve the cultural context that Kraft is characteristically placed in. Thus, our unexpected velvety-smooth collaboration with the one and only Juicy Couture, came to fruition–successfully inserting the brand into cultural conversations, driving talk value and brand affinity with our core consumer and beyond via strategic earned media approach.

Our ambition was to enable more mayo lovers to let their freak flags fly centered on our unique value proposition: velvety smoothness from being whipped over 3,000 times. We found a kindred spirit in Juicy Couture, a brand and product similarly built on a velvety smooth foundation. Through this alchemy of values, the Smooth Lover's Collection was born.

We created a limited-edition velour ensemble with Juicy Couture’s iconic jewels, coupled with a pink mayo jar sporting a mayo koozie. The co-branded logo featured Juicy Couture’s scottie dog emblem waving our flag.

With the two brands' shared affinity for velvety smoothness and the resurgence of Y2K nostalgia sweeping social platforms like Instagram and TikTok, our unexpected collaboration was perfectly positioned to inject Kraft into new cultural contexts and drive tangible growth for the business.

Insight: Juicy Couture tracksuits are the quintessential freak flag of individuality. They’re not just velvety-smooth, they’re a statement piece saying: “I’m gonna do me.” Juicy Couture was a kindred spirit, enabling Mayo Freaks to fly their flags proudly.

Key Message: Kraft Real Mayo is celebrating its mayo-loving fans by partnering up with one of the most iconic Y2K brands known for its luxury smooth staple, Juicy Couture, and launching its first-ever merch line: The Smooth Lover’s Collection. The one-of-a-kind statement pieces will bring together both brands' velvety smooth textures for couture everyone will want to sink their teeth into.

Target: We targeted a combination of mayo-loving millennials and fashion-forward Gen Z’ers, both of whom have a thirst for cultural nostalgia.

Assets: Leveraged enticing lifestyle key visuals, creative mailers to ship the Velvety Smooth collection to reporters, a quirky press release and thoughtful pitches for embargoed outreach leading up

Several ingredients came together to create our velvety-smooth world.

For our merch, we balanced Kraft Real Mayo and Juicy Couture’s visual languages to create the perfect marriage. From our key visual (where a bedazzled Kraft racetrack highlighted the back design of our velour pants) to our collab logo (with Juicy Couture’s Scottie mascot raising a Kraft flag), we featured the most recognizable elements within each brand.

This collaboration was for our loud and proud fans. For the packaging design, that unapologetic attitude came through via a big, bold typeface that bled off the surface; intentionally crooked or overlapping placements of design elements, like in a teenager’s scrapbook, screamed “I do what I want!”

Juicy Couture was every celebrity’s go-to paparazzi look. To hammer home that Y2K

nostalgia, we staged our own paparazzi shoot. Our messaging was inspired by gossip magazines, with dramatic headlines, high-flash photography, and cheeky editorial call outs.

We set out to create a brand act to give mayo lovers more ways to let their freak flag fly and create inescapable conversation around our Mayo Couture collaboration. Therefore, our primary KPI was earned media.

Campaign Goal & KPIs:

Earned Impressions: Garnered 983MM+ earned impressions, nearly double the planned impressions of 500MM impressions.

Earned Placements: 197 earned placements across online, broadcast, and social media, across verticals including Fox Business, Access Hollywood, Hypebae, Seventeen, and Delish. 99% of editorial coverage included at least two campaign messages, and the campaign was listed #2 on AdAge's Top Food & bev campaigns of 2022.

Brand Sentiment (Social): Achieved 97.1% net positive/neutral sentiment, exceeding benchmark of 80% by 1.2x.

Business Results:

Sales outpaced the entire mayo category by +15% and outpaced competitor Hellmann's by almost +20%, which resulted in 2.6 pts market share growth, a tall order given inflation and price increases.