Hellmann’s is a staple product found in 1 of 2 US households and is the dominant leader in the mayonnaise category. Hellmann’s aims to inspire consumers to make taste, not waste for the Super Bowl and all year round with delicious seasonal recipes that inspire and convert. While Hellmann’s has high household penetration, many people do not realize Hellmann’s can be used as an ingredient in a variety of dishes and not just as a condiment. Therefore, the business objective in 2024 is to increase consumption by owning the Football season using the Super Bowl as the launch moment.

Hellmann’s leveraged the Super Bowl platform to redefine its role as more than a condiment, positioning itself as a kitchen ally for reducing food waste. Utilizing wit, celebrity influence, and a mouth-watering recipe, Saturday Night Live's Kate McKinnon and her cat starred in a 'rise to fame' story, showcasing how Hellmann’s transforms leftovers into delicious meals. This engaging narrative tapped into consumer affinity for entertaining ads featuring pets, akin to the successful Farmer’s Dog commercial from the previous year.

By integrating these elements, Hellmann’s effectively broke through the Super Bowl advertising clutter. This innovative campaign not only inspired increased consumption of Hellmann’s during game-day feasts but also encouraged anti-waste behaviors. The strategy highlighted Hellmann’s versatility in the kitchen, reinforcing its position as a staple that resonates with consumers' values and preferences.

With business objectives of reducing food waste and increasing consumption, our primary audience was existing Hellmann's buyers. The only thing more ubiquitous than Hellmann's is the Super Bowl, so we activated this cultural food moment targeting Adults 25-64. To own football + game day, Hellmann's diversified their audience to include home chefs and drive growing football credentials.

The strategy was to build brand love for Hellmann's at the intersection of food, culture, and sports with mouth-watering recipes. The creative mechanism featured a "talking" cat, Mayo Cat, voiced by actress Kate McKinnon with a cameo by Pete Davidson, igniting a Hellmann's craze using the magic of Hellmann's to transform leftovers. In the pre-game phase, Hellmann's leveraged Mayo Cat to drive buzz in captivating, emerging platforms. During the game, Hellmann's used Mayo Cat to promote interaction via engaging media placements. Post-game, Hellmann's and Mayo Cat owned the leftovers conversation with impactful media.

Hellmann's doubled-down on culture to make sure Mayo Cat was "everywhere" in media across Video and Social. Within top-performing channels, we leveraged newer tactics to entice consumers and recruit them, including QR codes, end cards, Top Feed, Shake-to-Reveal effects, Branded Effects, and AR. Video ads contained engaging add-ons to facilitate seamless engagement and purchase for consumers.

A first for Hellmann’s was using the immersive Sphere at the Venetian in Vegas during the Super Bowl week to bring Mayo Cat to life and inspire consumers to "Make Taste, Not Waste." Within Social, these units intercepted cultural moments, capturing attention while providing fun diversions to interact with Hellmann's and build brand love on social.

Within Video, we partnered with Paramount and Walmart Media Connect, utilizing Walmart data on Paramount CTV inventory programmatically - an industry-first driving purchase-based relevance from a walled garden vendor like Walmart, reaching Walmart buyers in a party-planning mindset.

Mayo Cat was a sensation and captivated our audiences throughout all touchpoints.

Hellmann’s was the first Unilever and first condiment brand to advertise on The Sphere at the Venetian. The Sphere activation delivered 3.7MM+ impressions across vehicular, pedestrian, aviation, resorts, attractions, monorails, residences, and convention traffic across the 390-minute rotation.

Hellmann’s ran the first TikTok TopView with Shake-to-Reveal effect for Unilever US and outperformed versus TikTok’s CPG benchmarks across CTR (3.98% vs. 3.51% benchmark), engagement rate (4.47% vs. 3.93% benchmark), and average watch time per person (5.59s vs. 3.2s benchmark).

Mayo Cat outperformed TikTok’s benchmarks for Branded Mission + Branded Effect for engagement rate (6.4% vs. 3.3% benchmark) and video views (37.8MM views vs. 10MM benchmark).