Last fall, Digital Voices, an influencer marketing agency with offices in New York and London, was wrapping up a Halloween TikTok influencer campaign for Yoplait UK’s Frubes brand, the yogurt for children in a squeezable tube that’s marketed as Go-Gurt in the US. Reviewing comments to the influencer videos, Digital Voices CEO Jenny Quigley-Jones noticed some had nothing to do with Halloween.
“Might be just me,” commented @dadvgirls on Instagram Reels, “but in the summer I freeze my frubes and then have…a kinda lolly.” (Popsicles in the UK, as Harry Potter fans know, are called “ice lollies.”)
Other parents on Instagram Reels chimed in that they froze their Frubes, too, some noting the ancillary benefit for their on-the-go offspring. Commented @lanaslittlemunchkins, they “help keep the lunchboxes cooler in summer.”
It’s not uncommon for brands to capitalize on TikTok trends, inserting themselves into the conversation when users discover, say, that they can make ice cream from cottage cheese, or that smearing Vaseline on their faces before bedtime improves their complexions.
But a few comments on an Instagram Reel does not a trend make, which is why what happened next is surprising.
Brain freeze: Sarah Bentley, head of external relations at Yoplait UK, said the company noticed consumers were freezing Frubes “a few years ago,” but when the influencer agency highlighted it, it finally rose–or froze–to the occasion.
The brand partnered with Digital Voices to plan an influencer campaign this summer, and to call it out on packaging with “Try me frozen!” But the cold, hard fact—much like a frozen Frube itself—was there wasn’t much time to bring the idea to fruition (Frubition?).
Lolly props: The plan was for the campaign to feature six influencers—three each from TikTok and Instagram Reels—ensuring it was what Quigley-Jones called “an inclusive campaign” with diverse families.
The influencers were given a creative brief that encouraged them to make a video of themselves participating in a family activity with frozen Frubes. Quigley-Jones said they were asked to hit some talking points, among them that freezing Frubes meant “you can enjoy them like a delicious ice lolly,” and that in lunchboxes the frozen products can function as ice packs. They also were required to include hashtags, like #trymefrozen, #frubes, and #AD on their videos.
- Among the TikTok videos, one by @caaseybarker was viewed 6.3 million times, and another, by @theldnfamily, racked up 2.5 million views.
- Digital Voices guaranteed the content would get 7 million impressions, but it garnered more than twice that: 16.1 million, according to Quigley-Jones.
Perhaps the most impressive outcome, though, was at the cash register.
- In July and August, when the campaign ran, Frubes sales and volume increased 6% and 8%, respectively, over the prior two months, according to Nielsen data cited by the brand.
- Over the same period, 47% of previous Frubes buyers purchased the product more than once, while 34% of purchases were by first-time Frube buyers.
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“They were so responsive, which is exactly what you want from a brand partner,” Quigley-Jones said of Yoplait’s approach to the campaign. “They were willing to listen to their customers.”
+1: Frubes’s US counterpart Go-Gurt employed a similar campaign in the summer of 2022, also featuring “Try it Frozen” on the packaging and an influencer campaign, according to Kaylee Pohlmeyer, brand experience manager for dairy at General Mills, Yoplait’s parent company. The Go-Gurt tubes themselves featured thermochromic ink, which made additional graphic elements appear when the product was frozen.