Mayo is sometimes described as “boring” or “subtle,” yet people have surprisingly strong, polarizing opinions about it. As a result, mayo lovers have been frequently shamed for their condiment preference. Kraft Real Mayo is all about standing up for these pro-mayo people, who boldly enjoy their velvety-smooth mayo, no matter what others say. So while keeping a pulse on mayo culture and conversations, when we spotted an uncanny amount of unique mayo behavior displayed at sporting events, we leveraged this as a key cultural moment for brand engagement and activation. The brief was to increase buzz and awareness around Kraft Real Mayo’s brand purpose of being the mayo of mayonnaise (and supporting mayo lovers everywhere), to create a collective mayo-love platform.

To celebrate the biggest mayo lover out there, we started with a hype film featuring Mayo Man on social, calling for people to show their adoration for mayo in creative ways. We amplified the message across paid media partners like Barstool Sports, MLB and MiLB, staying true to the sports-inspired activation. As a brand all about supporting those who revel in their individuality, we were delighted by the broad range of unique entries; from rap songs to love poems to mayo-inspired workout routines and more. Then we let the people vote for the winner, by setting up a sports-style bracket on Instagram and Twitter. The Mayo Man announced the next Mayodorsement via a draft-announcement-style video, and the winner received a $10,000 signing bonus, a custom Kraft Mayo jar, and local print and OOH announcements in his hometown. Most importantly, though, the campaign spread a lot of mayo love.

Kraft Real Mayo is on a mission to spread mayo love far and wide, while simultaneously ending the shame around loving mayo; ultimately championing people who revel in their individuality. We kept the strategy simple, and focused: demonstrate the brand’s very purpose by creating a collective space where pro-mayo expressions can come to life, and rewarding the one that showed the most creativity, excitement and devotion to mayo.

The three-week campaign was executed in four phases during the month of Mayo. First, we had Mayo Man, on behalf of Kraft Real Mayo, announce that we’re looking for the next #KraftMayodorsement. With the launch, we encouraged people to submit UGC through owned channels as well as notable partners like Barstool Sports, MLB and MiLB. Then we fielded various content from far and wide, from rap songs to workout regimens and magic shows; all professing their love for and dedication to mayo. Then we set up a multi-day bracket to have the people vote for their favorite expression of mayo love. Once the votes were tallied, we announced the winner via a Mayo Draft announcement video on social and created hype around their success by contracting them with $10,000 as well as a local media campaign.

As one of the first programs to launch with Kraft Real Mayo’s newest brand repositioning, the campaign surpassed all predetermined KPIs as follows:

- Campaign Engagement: Over 200 unique contest entries in video and photo format.

- Earned Impressions: 203.2MM impressions, exceeding our base goal of 200MM.

- Paid Impressions: 161.2MM impressions, overdelivering our base goal of 131MM by 23%

- Social Media Followers: Primary channels Twitter and Instagram saw an increase of 5,000+ followers per platform, achieving an overall follower growth of 249%.

- Brand Perception: Kraft Real Mayo’s perception with Millennials hit record-highs following this campaign, with +67% increase in Kraft Mayo as “favorite brand,” +23% increase in purchase intent, and +40% increase in “keeps getting better” as measured by Y-Pulse.