3 examples of how brands got creative and went viral
Marketers and comms pros have long tried to crack the code to make a campaign or post trend. Achieving that status sometimes comes down to pinpointing the right target audience or teaming up with the right. In other cases, it’s just catching a major cultural wave at the perfect time.
Here, we’ve put together three recent social media posts or campaigns that really struck a chord with their audiences.
Chipotle leans into social trends
Chipotle Mexican Grill teamed up with Spirit Halloween to create a series of skintight costumes based on memes of fictional Chipotle-inspired costumes from previous years. In early September, the fast-casual restaurant chain introduced five bodysuits based on some of its products – a fork, a napkin, a water cup, a burrito and a to-go bag.
The announcement of the release attracted nearly 900,000 likes on Instagram and more than 3,000 comments. In terms of engagement, it blows the company’s average posts out of the water. Most recent posts have an average of between 15,000 to 30,000 engagements.
View this post on Instagram
The excitement surrounding the post clearly has little to do with costume design. Most of them are little more than a bodysuit with a series of Chipotle logos spread across the chest. The “Chipotle Fork” is just a black bodysuit and only slightly resembles the utensil if the person wearing it extends five of their fingers in the air.
Chris Brandt, Chipotle’s chief brand officer, noted in a media statement that the costume sales will provide a nearly two-month build up to the company’s annual “Boorito” promotion every Halloween.
What the promotion does well, though, is tap into an established Halloween tradition that customers have come to know and appreciate. The promotion has slumped in recent years, but this extended, more involved campaign may help improve that trend.
“DOES NOT INCLUDE: Lemonade 😂,” wrote IG user bree_999, alluding to messaging on the costume package.
The phrasing an homage to Chipotle’s longstanding acknowledgement that some of its customers “accidentally” fill their complimentary water cups with lemonade at the restaurant’s beverage stations. The company has had fun with the situation on social media over the years and even created a lemonade-scented candle in the shape of a water cup back in 2022.
Admittedly, the costumes have been met with a mixture of reviews – ranging from positive to lukewarm to a bunch of playful “who asked for this” responses. But again, the point is to build a buzz about the upcoming promotion.
“Lmao the chipotle fork is legendary,” user demaireski and nearly 4,900 agree based on the number of likes the comment earned.
Mets ride Grimace wave
New York Mets fans are close to riding their newest good luck charm, Grimace, all the way to the playoffs.
After a rough start to the season, the baseball club had McDonald’s towering purple mascot throw out the first pitch at a game on June 12. The Mets won that game and the next six, too. Since Grimace’s appearance, the team has gone 53-30 and is now in a position to make the postseason.
On Monday, the Mets brought Grimace back and gave him his own purple seat in the outfield. Not surprisingly, they won the game.
It’s here and it’s perfect! 🟣
We’ve installed a commemorative purple seat to recognize Grimace in section 302, row 6, seat 12. pic.twitter.com/CquOml8UMC
— New York Mets (@Mets) September 16, 2024
A social media post announcing the seat dedication – and various other Grimace-related posts throughout the summer – have generated thousands of engagements and interactions. The impact has been particularly notable on X, in which the Mets often post dozens of times on game days. While X has lost popularity overall, it remains immensely popular among sports fans, with more than 1.4 trillion impressions last year alone.
Since June, fans have started to show up at games in “fuzzy purple get-ups” — even when the Mets were playing in different cities, according to the New York Times.
Grimace shaking rotating dancing having seizure freaking out celebrating Mets home run in extra innings baseball game fan purple McDonald’s mascot suit costume crowd pic.twitter.com/M1Wm5bmO9u
— Brian’s Reaction Videos (@celestesangels) July 2, 2024
This overwhelming response also gave the Mets’ social media team a chance to turn the situation into a bigger storytelling moment. The club’s senior vice president of partnerships, Brenden Mallette, said it’s “been great to see how our fan base created the Grimace phenomenon,” and the organization has worked to continue that momentum in the months since.
“As we explored how to further capture the magic of this moment and celebrate our new celebrity fan, installing a commemorative seat ahead of fan appreciation weekend felt like the perfect way to give something back to the fans in a fun and unique way,” he said.
Nutter Butter craziness taking over TikTok
Nutter Butter’s frenzied, arthouse-style videos have each racked up more than 100,000 views since late July. Over the past two months, however, viewership numbers have skyrocketed as news of the “The Most Unhinged Thing on TikTok” has started to make the rounds on various blogs and other social media channels.
The brand’s most popular recent video is the “Cookie Do the Nutty Dance” song. The roughly 12-second clip features dancing Nutter Butter cookies, vibrantly colored strobe lights, a random cat and a poem that begins: “In a land where peanut prance/In a land where peanut prance/Cookie do a nutty dance/Cookie do a nutty dance.”
It’s then followed by a demonic voice screaming, “I want it back!” It concludes with a 2-second clip of dance music and the words “Yes, Yes!”
@officialnutterbutterlet; me out♬ original sound – nutter butter
In the first six days since posting, the video had attracted more than 8.2 million. So far, it had nearly 166,500 likes, 6,000 favorites and 10,200 saves as of Friday afternoon.
Among the likes and comments are a collection of other brands, including Sour Patch Kids, owned by the parent company of Nutter Butter. Other brands looking to capitalize on the popularity of the viral posts range from Rare Beauty and 5-Hour Energy to Crocs.
“almost as chaotic as parenthood,” Huggies wrote on one of the posts.
Over the years, many brands have taken quirky approaches to social media – think Wendy’s roast-style responses. However, it’s important to remember that social media isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Nutter Butter posts similar content across all its platforms. The videos seem to resonate with TikTok’s youthful audience. But they don’t generate anywhere near the same level of engagement on Instagram or Facebook. A recent video that gained over 104,000 likes on TikTok earned a solid, but much smaller, 4,000 likes on Instagram. Nutter Butter gets virtually no engagement on Facebook.
Nothing is more important than understanding your target audience and how to reach them.
Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.
