Nutter Butter is being nutty…
Let’s talk about it
Marissa Roberge
What’s happening?
You may have noticed everyone talking about Nutter Butters’ frankly unhinged social media persona. Publications like AdAge, Fast Company, Buzzfeed, Delish and even The New York Times have picked up the story, not to mention the incredible engagement we’re seeing across Nutter Butters’ socials.
Nutter Butter is leaning into the Brain Rot trend. These low quality, short and often disturbing content pieces are designed for obsessive scrolling. Nutter Butter’s posts are confusing and take inspiration from fan engagement. The brand leverages bizarre characters like "Aidan," "Nutter Butter Man," and "Mr. 1021.”
Nutter Butter’s virality didn’t just happen overnight. The brand made a decision to pivot its channel strategy. While its website remains relatively generic, across TikTok, Instagram and Twitter there’s been a notable shift dating back to 2023 when “Aidan” first appeared. Who’s Aidan, you may ask? A fan who has commented his name on every Nutter Butter Instagram post for a year. Then Nutter Butter began incorporating Aidan in their posts. The story goes, Aidan ate a Nutter Butter which turned him into the Nutter Butter man. Nutty…
Do people like it?
It’s a resounding yes. Its most recent posts have amassed more than 1 million views on TikTok, its most viral reaching 18M. Nutter Butter’s following has more than doubled and engagement is growing with fans duetting posts and talking about the brand in the comment section, on Reddit and across Twitter. Their target audience is Gen Z and Gen Alpha but even older generations are showing an interest:
Does it work?
Maybe, it depends what we mean when we say “it works.”
In terms of engagement, yes! Following has more than doubled. Chatter all over social media is up, and the PR has basically written itself. But we’ve yet to see if the viral aspect of this content will impact sales. But they’ve effectively tapped into a sub-sect of their audience, proving that they know their audience better than anyone.
The only question is: where do they go from here?
When animals help US escape
Sometimes we need a distraction.
Mike Hernandez
What’s happening?
We’ve been sensing a trend…when the country is feeling chaotic, nothing hits quite like a viral animal story.
We all remember Harambe, but for those under 8 years old:
Harambe was a Cincinnati Zoo gorilla who was shot and killed after grabbing a child who had climbed into his enclosure in May of 2016. What ensued was a strong discourse on whether a human or endangered animal life were more valuable, the role of the parent, countless memes and a hashtag that may not be shared here.
At that time, the election was heating up, with Donald Trump already exploring a run and Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Marco Rubio and others announcing their candidacy as well. This was also in the wake of the Pulse nightclub shooting and Brexit. Needless to say, it was a hectic few months in the US, and we took to the Harambe story possibly to distract us from it all.
Now, in a impossibly crazier year, we have two unlikely heroes: Moo Deng and Pesto.
Moo Deng (bouncy pork)is a pygmy hippo at a Thailand zoo. Moo Deng is incredible cute and has a 24/7 livestream. Moo Deng even has an ai generator.
Pesto the Penguin is the only King Penguin born in the Australian aquarium in two years. Pesto weighs 52 pounds, nearly 20 pound heavier than average. Pesto is a BEAST.
What do these two have in common? They give us relief from the depressing headlines, twitter battling and inevitable doomscrolling we face on a daily basis. In the face of overseas wars, political turmoil and natural disasters, at least we have them.
Even Harambe, whose story was sad and has us taking sides, was a welcome diversion. So thank you, young chubby friends, for giving us a welcome mental getaway while the world tries to get us down.