The challenge was as simple as it was daunting, for over a decade Miracle Whip sales had been declining. Our job was to bend the curve in a positive direction. Very little interpretation was needed, and we were handed the keys to the brand so the values were up to us. We focused on challenging the dominant condiment in the category (mayonnaise) by focusing on our tangy flavor versus mayo's blandness.

Given our limited time and budget, our target market was broad and national. We had three months to change twelve years of decline, everyone who'd ever had a sandwich was our target market.

At the end of the day the desired outcome was more sales, moving jars was the only thing that mattered. We attempted to do that by getting as much earned media attention as possible for our activation.

The strategic process was very basic: we needed to answer the question "Why should a consumer choose Miracle Whip over mayonnaise?"

There was no research. No workshops. Just an intense amount of collaboration and understanding of culture and how to hack attention.

When you have a few weeks to change many years of consumer behavior, everything can seem like a challenge. Fortunately we approached this campaign with a small, nimble team of "creators" not "creatives". Everyone got involved and got their hands dirty, and it showed.

The breakthrough moment came at the very beginning, when we endeavored to remove mayo from the minds of consumers and happened to see if there were any towns named Mayo. Thanks, Florida!

We decided to do something as bold and tangy as Miracle Whip's flavor and to change the officially bland name of Mayo, FL to Miracle Whip, FL.

We put Miracle Whip back on the map, by taking Mayo off it.

This was a pure distillation of the creative strategy, which was to boldly challenge the undisputed leader in the category, mayonnaise. But to do so in a way that was as tangy and quirky as the Miracle Whip brand.

The results greatly exceeded our expectations. For the first time in over a decade the brand saw a lift in sales. We achieved more in one week than the past twelve years of efforts combined.

And while that's the most important thing at the end of the day, we also achieved over one billion impressions, coverage in over 400 publications, and did so while spending practically $0 on paid media.

Qualitatively the response was incredible. We trended on Twitter and saw incredible positive sentiment from fans across the nation. The town of Mayo, FL joined the fun, too (after the shock wore off). Some local stores changed their names temporarily and even the high school team took on the moniker Miracle Whip for a football game!

Some helpful things to note are: small towns in America (like Miracle Whip) are on the decline. A variety of issues face these towns, but they are still a tremendous source of pride for many Americans, especially amongst those that consistently consume Miracle Whip.

Miracle Whip, as opposed to mayonnaise, is also seen as an "American" condiment. So the activation received overwhelming positive attention as it was seen as an American brand supporting and bringing joy to a small American town.