With Easter approaching, egg consumption the highest it’s been in three decades, protein rising to the top as a mega food trend in the U.S. and the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee taking a more positive stance on eggs and cholesterol claims, there was no better time for America’s egg farmers to reclaim their share of the breakfast table. To accomplish this, they set out to take over pop-culture conversation and team up with the world's most famous bacon - Kevin Bacon. Why? Because nobody knows eggs better than bacon.

In an effort to reach a national audience and wide-ranging demographic, egg farmers leveraged the Hollywood icon’s star power and relevancy, breaking into pop culture like never before. Through a provocatively humorous two-minute web film and print, digital and social media ads filled with enough egg puns to keep Americans cracking up, the dynamic duo of Bacon and eggs proved that when you wake up to eggs, you are waking up to a nutrition-wielding powerhouse.

The “Wake up to Eggs with Bacon” campaign creative was teased out with an Associated Press marketing exclusive, instantly catching the attention of national media such as The New York Times, ABC News, The Washington Post, CNBC and Access Hollywood. The breaking news was immediately followed with a press release and extended media outreach, garnering more than 390 million impressions in the first day, leaving media and consumers scrambling to learn more about eggs. To date, the campaign has reached more than 680MM+ consumers and counting.

The goal of the campaign was to wake Americans up to the benefits of starting the day with the nutrition necessary to power through any task (or to endure a lifetime of egg puns if you’re Kevin Bacon), using the secret ingredient that was likely already in their refrigerator – eggs. To achieve this, America’s egg farmers set out to reach all U.S. consumers with a humorous, engaging and breakthrough way of talking about nutrition, while also giving the egg industry the large-scale attention it hadn’t been able to capture in the past.

Effectiveness:

Output/Awareness: Since launch, the campaign has been mentioned in more than 1,361 placements, garnering 680MM+ impressions in earned media alone. The Wake up to Eggs with Bacon video has been viewed more than 3.6MM+ times and has been embedded into more than half of all placements.

Action/Business Impact: During the first four weeks of the campaign, (March 15-April 11) 16 million more dozens of eggs were sold than the prior four week period. Dollar sales of eggs were up 17 percent vs. the same period in 2014, equating to an increase of $70 million for the egg industry.

In the week following the launch, there were 7.5 percent more searches for “American Egg Board,” “Egg” and “Kevin Bacon” terms vs. the seven days prior to the launch and visitors to the Kevin Bacon hub on IncredibleEgg.org spent an average of more than six minutes on the site.

The “Wake up to Eggs with Bacon” campaign was launched with an AP business exclusive on March 12, instantly sparking coverage in top tier media such as The New York Times, ABC News and CNBC.

The online campaign, web film, web short and behind-the-scenes video were launched on Incredible Egg-owned social properties. Within eight hours of launch, more than 200 outlets had touted the campaign. Immediately following the exclusive, the official press release crossed the wire announcing the partnership and mass media outreach commenced, spurring new local and national coverage in outlets like Good Morning America, Fox & Friends, Kelly & Michael, CNN, The Huffington Post, and MSN.com.

By the afternoon, social aggregators like Reddit, Mashable and College Humor had picked up the story, causing the campaign to go viral. By the end of the first week, more than 1,200 media outlets had covered the story, garnering 643 million impressions.

With an increase in spending from competitors, changes in American’s eating habits and rapid growth in egg alternative products, the egg industry had started to lose share of voice and dollars for eggs. Breakfast category competitors were outspending eggs by 173 percent and 149 percent respectively, and introducing more protein alternative items.

At any given time, 93 percent of American households have eggs stocked in the fridge, but many consumers still don’t understand the nutrition benefits packed into every eggshell. In 2015, America’s egg farmers got aggressive to take eggs from a grocery store staple to a buzzworthy, top-of-mind food.

The strategy was to strike while the iron was hot and generate buzz around AEB’s partnership with Kevin Bacon via a cadenced launch that included a pre-pitched marketing interview exclusive, social media roll-out, press release distribution and mass media outreach.

By creating a one-of-a-kind web film that was edgier than anything AEB had ever done before and enlisting a celebrity of Kevin Bacon’s caliber, America’s egg farmers were confident they could capitalize on eggs’ most popular breakfast plate partner and spark the interest of Americans nationwide.