Tasked with defending Kraft's position as Cheeto’s launched its own variety of mac and cheese. The best defense is a good offense.

Meanwhile, 2020’s global pandemic had food flying off the physical and virtual shelves as people stocked up for lockdown. How could Kraft Mac and Cheese get front-of-mind and underscore its position as category leader?

Objectives:

Reach new, younger demographic. Shift interest from family to young Millennials/Gen Z/college kids.

Make more noise than Cheetos. Drown out competition and keep Kraft front of mind.

Drive cultural conversation.

Increase sales of Kraft Mac and Cheese

Send Noods.

We gave people the chance to send some much-needed comfort and affection to the people they care about the most, in the cheesiest way possible—by sending noods (not nudes). The huge integrated campaign centered on a website where people could send noods (free Kraft Macaroni and Cheese) to someone they love.

Elements driving to the site included Influencer kits, branded swag (including a X-rated magazine of steaming hot noods), OOH, extensive digital and social assets, and a TV spot staring Saturday Night Live star Vanessa Bayer.

Our work plays on the social behavior of people finding new and different ways to show their loved ones they care about them at a time when communication is generally limiting without physical interaction thanks to the pandemic.

In these weird, disconnected and uncomfortable times, people are reaching for more comfort food than ever before.

Covid-19 has turned everyone’s lives completely upside down and one of the results is a big spike in sales of “comfort food.” As the world feels like it’s spinning out of control, people are intuitively reaching for food that helps them feel just a bit more comfortable, and Kraft Mac and Cheese is probably the greatest comfort food of all time.

We targeted a new demographic for the brand: Young Millennials/Gen Z/college kids. They were met with messaging where they live: Online. A hero spot launched on YouTube, Instagram and Twitter, along with multiple social assets driving people to a CTA to send noods to loved ones via a bespoke landing page.

Send Noods launched on October 6 to dominate cultural conversation around National Noodle Day.

Multiple executions went live at once: Bespoke website for people to Send Noods, OOH, social assets, online video hero spot with Vanessa Bayer, influencer engagement, a Match Group buy for Tinder, a box including branded merch Send Noods T-shirt and stickers, a 50-page "noody mag" containing just photos of mac and cheese, and the product.

We pushed paid messaging across Twitter, Instagram and Reddit. Most messaging caught cultural attention as the campaign went viral.

The campaign had two lifespans: Oct 6 to Oct 11 for initial push; then a wave of big press as the controversial nature of Send Noods took hold. The media told the story we wanted to tell—the campaign was offensive to some, but the killjoys among us who live for cancel culture.

+$1.4M sales increase in week of campaign compared to other weeks [CONFIDENTIAL]

Equates to a +6% sales increase of Kraft Mac and Cheese.

Half a BILLION in earned media.

#4 on Twitter trending list on National Noodle Day, nestled in between Trump catching COVID-19 and category four hurricanes.

Surpassed video completion benchmarks on Instagram Stories (+98%) and Twitter (+283%), and gained a 6.18% lift in Brand Favorability on YouTube

surpassing the benchmark (1.6%).

83,199 clicks to EnjoyNoods.com, with 24,000 boxes of

KMC given away. Sold out of first product wave in under 1 hour.

First North American launch through coordinated efforts with Canadian Kraft Mac and Cheese arm during the campaign and in crisis management.

Tinder POE on drove 92,232 engagements. Sponsored Inbox Message open rate came in 17% above benchmark at 77%.

Created unmissable campaign that stood out among other category messages for millennials. Successfully reached new demographic.

In these weird, disconnected and uncomfortable times, people are reaching for more comfort food than ever before.

Covid-19 has turned everyone’s lives completely upside down and one of the results is a big spike in sales of “comfort food.” As the world feels like it’s spinning out of control, people are intuitively reaching for food that helps them feel just a bit more comfortable, and Kraft Mac and Cheese is probably the greatest comfort food of all time.

Our work plays on the social behavior of people finding new and different ways to show their loved ones they care about them at a time when communication is generally limiting without physical interaction thanks to the pandemic.