THE CHALLENGE: FREE GOLDFISH FROM THE SHACKLES OF BEING “JUST A KID’S SNACK”

Goldfish needed to establish itself as a snack that’s not just for kids, but also for adults in order to grow and fully realize its leadership status within the snacking category. 2020 added urgency to brand growth goals when on-the-go snacking occasions came to a halt during COVID-19 lockdowns.

The brand had a right to win with adults because what people think and what people do are not the same when it comes to Goldfish: 30% say Goldfish are “just for kids,” but 40% of Goldfish snacking is done by adults.

OBJECTIVES: DRIVE CONSUMPTION AND MAKE THE BRAND RELEVANT TO ADULTS WITHOUT SACRIFICING THE CHARM KIDS LOVE

We needed to drive affinity and consumption among adults without disrupting the charm and playfulness that are core to Goldfish’s identity.

INSIGHT

Unlike kids, adults tend to snack on Goldfish by the handful. Maybe this is because they are anatomically advantaged to do so, since they have bigger hands.

CREATIVE IDEA: CAN YOUR HANDFUL OF GOLDFISH BEAT THE BIGGEST HANDS IN THE NBA?

To get adults to celebrate the way they eat Goldfish, we made going for the handful a competitive sport. We asked them to show us how many Goldfish they could fit in their big, adult hands when they #GoForTheHandful.

A CLEAR OBJECTIVE: BEAT BOBAN

To ramp up competition, we brought in the biggest hands in the NBA, Boban Marjanovic. Standing at 7’4”, he has a cult following, and even a Reddit thread dedicated to pictures of him holding things.

When Boban grabbed 301 Goldfish in a single handful, we knew he’d really get the competition going.

TARGET: THE YOUNG AT HEART

Goldfish’s target is the “young at heart”--adults who approach life (and snacking!) with fun and playfulness. Many are parents who stock up on Goldfish, ostensibly for their kids, but end up eating much of it themselves. We knew kitchen cabinets across the country were stocked with Goldfish. We just had to get people to reach for them.

GROUNDED IN REAL USER BEHAVIOR

To get them to engage, we started with a true behavioral insight about how adults consume Goldfish: by the handful. In fact, social listening revealed the most frequent word associated with Goldfish was “handful.” So we took that existing user behavior and turned it into a challenge.

TIKTOK: THE PLATFORM FOR OUR TARGET

TikTok was a perfect fit because its inherently playful nature attracts “young at heart” adults.

It also has scale: over half of TikTok’s 110 Million monthly users are adults.

DESIGNED FOR TIKTOK: MAKE IT EASY, MAKE IT FUN, MAKE IT WORTH SOMETHING

We launched a TikTok Hashtag Challenge: can you hold more Goldfish in your handful than Boban?

To invite participation, we made it simple: duet Boban to show us how you #GoForTheHandful, and see if you can hold more than 301 Goldfish---putting product at the center of the fun. To incentivize submissions, the winner would become the first Official Goldfish Spokeshand and 25 secondary winners would receive Boban-sized Goldfish bags.

We also partnered with TikTok influencers who all have unique comedic styles to inspire a variety of different submissions while keeping the challenge accessible to anyone who wanted to participate.

The day our TikTok challenge went live, TV Spots with Boban counting Goldfish ran everywhere- including during an NBA game where Boban was playing. The TV Spots, along with all other ads, drove to TikTok.

INSTEAD OF ANOTHER TIKTOK DANCE CHALLENGE, WE LITERALLY PUT OUR PRODUCT INTO PEOPLE’S HANDS. AND IT WORKED.

-We reached half of TikTok’s monthly average user base in two days.

-We doubled our TikTok impression benchmark in 3 days and ultimately drove 7.9 Billion total views.

-Boban’s TikTok got 1 million organic views in 12 hours with zero paid support.

-Our ads had a 450% higher video completion rate vs. TikTok’s engagement benchmark.

We got followers without asking.

Our CTA was all about participation, not asking for follows. But we took Goldfish’s TikTok followers from 40,000 to 108,000 (+173%) in three days anyway.

Everyone wanted part of the handful magic.

-66 million earned media impressions inclusive of Sports Podcasters and broadcasters talking about Goldfish organically on their shows.

-7’5” NBA athlete and Boban’s only true competitor, Tacko Fall, did the challenge and got 2.4 million organic views.