Nutter Butter is currently melting eyeballs and weirding out fans (in a good way) with an innovative social media strategy that is incredibly bizarre and utterly memorable in equal measure.
Nutter Butter has largely been a successful, but somewhat overlooked, American sandwich cookie brand for decades, until it decided to shake things up with a surreal marketing style.
In just the last month, the company’s talented social media team have served up dozens of nightmarish videos which have made the internet, and younger meme-savvy audiences, go wild.
While Nutter Butter is now enjoying a viral wave of engagement, its success is years in the making.
When did the Nutter Butter social craze start?
Eighteen months ago, the world got its first taste of its weird, offbeat creative energy with a series of Instagram posts centred on a superfan named Aidan.
These posts were relatively constrained, compared to their recent output. But the resounding response – one simple Reel with cookies and the text ‘Aidan’ overlaid on top – generated 480k likes and sowed the seeds for further experimentation.
While unhinged content was already in vogue by early 2023, with Duolingo and Ryanair among those doubling down on the strategy, Nutter Butter had finally unearthed its own unique tone of voice and branding for socials.
“Instead of being the 90th brand to hop on the bandwagon of some kind of massive trend, we found our niche here with these really small Gen Z trends,” former Dentsu social marketing manager, Aubrey Burrough, said at the time.
Nutter Butter has committed fully since then – but it’s TikTok that is now the centrepiece of its strategy.
In September, eleven videos were uploaded to the platform. The vast majority racked up millions of views. But it was a video featuring popular TikTok user Cassie Fitzwater asking “are you guys okay?” that sparked Nutter Butter’s latest viral moment.
@officialnutterbutter 10 21 24 @Cassie Fitzwater ♬ original sound - nutter butter
In typical fashion, there are also edits with unsettling faces on Nutter Butter cookies stating “yes” and “depend” afterwards.
The video has since been viewed 18m+ times and received 1m likes. More importantly, it transformed the company’s traction on TikTok; analytics tracker Social Blade shows a gain of almost 700,000 followers during the last 30 days.
Follow-up videos have been similarly successful, and even more unhinged.
@officialnutterbutter now
♬ original sound - nutter butter
One clip starts with the outline of a man named Mr. 1021 giving an apology in a pitched-down voice with “you want cookie” edits spliced in. It then ends with a disco rave scene starring ‘Nutter Butter Man’ and psychedelic cats. The bizarre sequence was viewed 12m+ times.
Nutter Butter’s recent prosperity is incredibly satisfying for a team that put in the hard yards before it shot to social media stardom; just a few months ago, its TikTok videos were generating thousands of views, not millions.
Nutter Butter remained faithful to its irreverent content output throughout. That’s impressive in an era in which social media marketers and creatives often pivot quickly to new trends and memes.
How did Nutter Butter achieve its recent success?
So, what’s the secret? A recent New York Times article reporting on Nutter Butter’s meteoric social media marketing success says it’s “lots of lore without much sense”.
The company has also defined it as “strategic silliness”.
There are lots of coded messages: ciphers, binary and Morse code are interspersed with fever dream-like visuals to create a weird and wonderful kaleidoscope that you can’t look away from (even if it makes you uncomfortable).
What’s more impressive is how Nutter Butter is so consistent with the quality and themes of its marketing across multiple channels.
While most brands have dabbled with unhinged content, it’s incredibly difficult to get the tone just right.
Bigger names are also tied to a history of specific marketing messages and branding. An absence of audience expectations has given Nutter Butter free rein to go wild.
Kelly Amatangelo, who is social media lead at Mondalez – the company that owns Nutter Butter – says: “Nutter Butter is one of the brands in our portfolio that doesn’t have a lot of marketing behind it, so we can kind of have this safe space to experiment.”
However, the irony is that Nutter Butter may be forced to continue with the wacky, out-there content or risk alienating its newly found audience.
An April Fool’s joke published by the brand on Instagram stating it would revert to a more conservative style didn’t go down well.
One user wrote: “If this ever actually happens, we will boycott and your profits will drop by 60%.”
What can other brands learn from Nutter Butter?
Nutter Butter’s social media strategy is obviously not suitable for everyone. But what is the takeaway from its surrealist approach to content and social media management for other brands?
Build a narrative and be consistent: Nutter Butter has built its videos around a recurring set of characters and storylines – most notably, Aidan and Nutter Butter Man. Audiences love ongoing plots, lore and interconnected narratives which become more intriguing over time. This helps to engage new fans while keeping followers invested.
Leverage fan participation: Nutter Butter leans heavily into interactions, comments and suggestions from followers. This participatory approach, again, is great for engagement. Making a fanbase feel like it's actively collaborating and contributing to content is an excellent way to build a strong and lasting online community.
Go beyond the product or service: Nutter Butter isn’t selling the benefits of cookies. It wants to entertain, and even shock its audience. This hook is a gateway for audiences to then explore what the brand has to offer. It makes people curious and keeps the brand in consumers’ minds, even when they aren’t glued to smartphones and apps.
Be ready to capitalise on viral content: One viral video isn’t enough to sustain a brand in today’s fast-paced media landscape. It’s vital to respond quickly with new videos and posts to amplify the initial buzz. Having a creative team capable of delivering high-quality content, consistently, is key.
Develop a unique brand voice: Chasing trends is not sustainable. Nutter Butter’s success highlights the power of crafting a distinct tone and personality. It doesn’t always have to be absurd humour – just make sure to develop a unique brand voice that makes you memorable.
