Goldfish crackers are known and loved by kids and teens, but adults tend to forget about the snack they once loved. To get a generation of adults to come back to a snack they grew up with we decided to reach them through one of their top passions, music, and do it during the biggest night of music: The GRAMMYs. We set out to reconnect with adults by reminding them how great the iconic Goldfish jingle, “The Snack that Smiles Back”, they grew up with really is but this time with a twist.

Taking inspiration from social videos of Goldfish fans rewriting "the snack that smiles back" jingle with their own lyrics, we wanted to invite everyone to reconnect with Goldfish by creating their own versions of the Goldfish jingle during Music's Biggest Night: the GRAMMYs. To kick things off, we created three spots that used an unconventional text-only, sing-along format often found in music videos and karaoke to break down the jingle. Each spot progressively showed how the jingle's lyrics can change to fit any message. We encouraged viewers to adapt the catchy tune to whatever is on their mind and share it on Twitter. This format disrupted the GRAMMYs broadcast with audio repetition, text paired with simple graphics, and a playful bouncing Goldfish cracker while inviting GRAMMYs viewers to engage on Twitter.

Through social listening, we found that “The Snack that Smiles Back” Goldfish jingle was such a beloved earworm, that people started making their own versions of the jingle. In fact, the jingle was mentioned 94,000 times on social in the last two years and #TheSnackThatSmilesBack had 5 million views on TikTok despite the jingle not being on air for years. This insight led us to create a campaign to engage those who already create their own jingles but also encourage everyone else to create their own. Through the shared joy of music, creativity, and sharing personalized Goldfish jingles, Goldfish was set to reconnect with adult consumers in an entirely new way.

“The Snack That Smiles Back” Goldfish jingle was first introduced in 2001. From there it was used in several commercials over the next 18 years until it was retired in 2019. But it never stopped being relevant on social media, as people discovered all different kinds of 6-syllable phrases could fit the catchy music. That’s what led us to lean into the trend, change the lyrics ourselves, and prompt everyone to write their own versions during the GRAMMYs.

- Earned 734MM total impressions in less than 1 week

- The campaign garnered 6.7MM impressions and 76.4K engagements on Twitter alone

- #GoldfishJingle garnered 11.8M views on TikTok through influencer videos, duets and users chiming in

- #GoldfishJingle was trending at #6 on Twitter during the night of the GRAMMYs

- #GoldfishJingle was trending over popular artists and celebrities like Doja Cat, Tyler the Creator, and GRAMMYs host Trevor Noah

- The campaign was an instant earworm that dominated social conversation. People loved it and people loved to hate it, but most importantly, people were talking about it. The sentiment was 80% positive/neutral, 20% negative.