Oreo is the world’s most iconic and best-selling cookie. It’s sold in 100 countries and more than 60 billion Oreos are bought every year. In Southeast Asia, however, it’s a different story.

Sales were falling in this highly competitive market, and in 2021, Oreo penetration plummeted -2.3 points. It was only bought 3.7 times in 52 weeks out of 54 biscuit purchases annually. The reason was Oreo’s messaging simply didn’t translate to key demographics and cultures in this region.

Generation Z was the key barrier to success in the region. 92% of male cookie snackers aged 16-18 and 75% of 22-24-year-old female cookie snackers say Oreo is one of their favourite cookie brands. Success among this influential audience would equal success for the brand.

Our objective was therefore to create a campaign that would resonate with Gen Z, encourage organic sharing and drive sales for Oreo.

In Southeast Asia, Oreos are seen as a ‘kid’s only cookie’, hence 81% of sales come through moms with young children.

The region’s 50 million Generation Z population has the highest snacking occurrences per week; to win new audiences, we needed to win them over.

Our insight was that this generation spends the most time online sharing their cultures and lives via social media. K-pop, the generation’s goliath, doesn’t just shape Gen Z’s music or fashion choices, it fuels their entire lifestyle, and it gave us an opportunity.

For Oreo to connect with Gen Z, we needed to build a cultural engagement between the icons they love and the brands they love, positioning Oreo as the sought-after snack.

From analysing K-pop, BLACKPINK stood out as the genre’s most popular band in the region, recently becoming the first K-pop group to have four music videos on YouTube surpass 1.5 billion views.

Our strategy was to completely shift Oreo marketing from Millennial parents to Generation Z – an audacious move that completely went against category norms.

We would remind Gen Z of Oreo’s magic. From branding and product development to authentic and personal experiences fuelled through BLACKPINK fandom, it would push brand partnerships to a new level.

First, we would ‘Entice the Fans’: seeding buzz for our collaboration through BLACKPINK themselves, who would play an integral part in the campaign.

Then, socialise the experience. We would become the talk of the town with ownable collectibles, using the Oreo product and packaging as a powerful media channel – social catalysts and personalisation that would bring the iconic partnership directly to people, boosting engagement and sharing.

Finally, we would convert buzz to business. At every step we would collect data, remarket priority audiences, link to commerce and activate in-store to drive impact and results.

Working with K-pop communities and select publishers, we created a campaign sneak peek, along with an exclusive ‘Special Edition’ BLACKPINK Oreo pack with Shopee – the largest online marketplace in Southeast Asia.

Within 12 minutes of launch, all packs sold out, and our YouTube teaser campaign drove 1.3 billion video views.

Our collaboration was amplified on TikTok via a hashtag challenge and bespoke brand filter. People could use the filter and be a K-pop star themselves, lip-syncing BLACKPINK hits, driving 3 million UGC creations and 3.2 billion video views.

Our packaging became a media channel for fans to receive AI-powered personalised messages from BLACKPINK’s band members by scanning and filling their details.

An immersive concert experience was created with TikTok, where fans could perform in-sync with the music, driving 8 million views and 8 billion hashtag views.

We collected 1 million pieces of first party data through various online engagements.

The impact of our campaign was unprecedented. We delivered a mind-blowing 29.7% increase in sales – by far the most of any cookie brand in the region or world.

We reached over 250 million young people, with an 80%+ average reach among our target demographic.

We drove 5% brand intent lift and a recall of over 4-6% across Southeast Asia.

In total we achieved 4 billion views and 8 billion interactions.

Our YouGov buzz score showed a positive impact of +6, leading the campaign to rank #3 in the YouGov Brand Index (in CPG Ranking end of March 2023).

We also became part of a wider cultural movement. Most of Gen Z’s idols remain inaccessible and distant. But Oreo's playful engagement managed to create an authentic and relatable experience.

Most importantly, we became part of the cultural fabric of every Gen Zer who loves K-pop and has ever loved Oreo.