The Nutter Butter campaign explained. Yes, this nightmare makes sense

The hottest marketing topic in the world right now is Nutter Butter.

And that's the point.

Nutter Butter, the sixth most-popular U.S. cookie brand, has upended TikTok with unhinged videos that cross horror movies with an acid trip. Here's an example (click to watch):

This might seem like an inexplicable, or even dangerous, way to promote a cookie loved by children. But this strategy aligns with research I've done for my new book ("Audacious," out January 2025). In the context of modern marketing, this strategy is bizarre but also brilliant.

Today I'll explain why the Nutter Butter campaign is more than chaos.

The biggest problem in marketing today

... is attention.

We live in a world awash with content. Our ads don't just compete with other ads. They compete for attention with Netflix, Candy Crush, and photos of the new grandkids on Facebook.

And this war for attention grows even more desperate with AI. AWS reports that already more than half the content on the web is AI-generated slop.

To break through this incredible wall of noise takes something bold ... maybe even a little crazy. So let's start there. Nutter Butter needs awareness for its brand and is taking a risk to be audacious.

Purpose behind the outrage

This campaign is getting so much attention because it's unsettling, perhaps even horrifying. But there is a method behind this madness.

Jonah Berger, a Wharton marketing professor and author of one of my favorite books, Contagious: Why Things Catch On, identified emotional connection as one of the key factors influencing content virality. He explained that when we care deeply about something, we are more likely to share it with others and remember it.

Jonah’s research showed that content that evokes strong emotions, whether positive or negative, is more likely to be recalled and talked about than content that is purely informational or emotionally neutral.

Virality is most associated with high-arousal emotions like excitement, awe, anger, outrage, and fear. Yes … anger, outrage, and fear.

Another company embracing anger and outrage is the fast-growing water brand Liquid Death. It created its brand by starting with WRONG --? Naming its product Death. Selling water in cans emblazoned with skulls. Adopting gruesome images as its brand vision. Collaborating with porn stars and other alternative niches.

And in three years, this brand went from nothing to a valuation of $1.4 billion.

One of the highlights of my new book is the idea that most marketers typically focus on positive emotions. By highlighting fear and outrage, Liquid Death and Nutter Butter are tapping into an overlooked strategy to increase awareness and relevance.

The world wants weird

The Nutter Butter campaign is on TikTok for a reason. Gen Z likes brands that go their own way, and the weirder, the better.

• A study by the market research company Ipsos found that 65% of Gen Z respondents believe that “being true to yourself” is more important than being popular, compared to 43% of Millennials and 35% of Gen X.
• Research by the advertising agency Wunderman Thompson found that 70% of Gen Z respondents believe that being different is a good thing, and they prefer standing out from the crowd.
• A Live Nation study showed that 82% feel “weird is in” and 58% say the more absurd something is, the cooler it becomes.”
• Much has been written about the rise of absurdist Gen Z humor that baffles older generations. The weirder, the better.

So the unexpected weirdness of the campaign might not make much sense unless you're part of Gen Z.

Is Nutter Butter "on brand?"

Some of the criticism of this campaign is that this is just too weird for a cookie brand. These horrifying images are off-brand.

Well, let's start with a question: When you think of the Nutter Butter cookie, what IS the brand? That's what I thought. Nothing comes to mind. You probably haven't had one of these cookies since you were a kid ... if you've ever had one at all.

My point is that Nutter Butter has no meaningful brand recognition and has nothing to lose by stepping into Crazy Town.

Would this work for Coke or Nike or Apple? No, because these companies actually have brands. Nutter Butter had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

If a cookie competitor like Oreo created insane videos like this, it would be truly off-brand. So Nutter Butter is turning its weakness --? it has no brand meaning -- to its advantage by owning the weird.

And it worked.

Here's a funny thing. If you search for Nutter Butter on TikTok, it's actually hard to find the ads because there are so many influencer posts talking about the ads and directing their followers to the account. One influencer video garnered 3 million views alone. In a few weeks, Nutter Butter has added one million new TikTok followers. Each video is receiving thousands of comments and shares.

So, the brand is suddenly relevant, in the middle of the culture, creating conversations. What a success story.

It's also getting attention from the general public. Here is the search interest in Nutter Butter over the last year, according to Google Trends:

The nightmarish campaign is receiving tons of mainstream media coverage, including The Today Show and Fast Company. The cookie chaos has spawned numerous reddit popular threads trying to interpret what it all means.

Is it having a financial impact on the brand? It's too soon to tell, but it's hard to imagine that it's not experiencing a significant sales boost from all this attention.

Is it sustainable?

Is this a stunt or a strategy?

I think it's too smart to be a stunt. My guess is that there is actually a narrative here. There are characters, codes, themes. I think a subcult of people will devote themselves to unraveling the mysteries and Nutter Butter would be wise to keep the momentum going with actual clues and rewards.

It will be interesting to see how all this madness might spill over to their packaging. What would happen if they had a special edition Nutter Butter Man package? There are a lot of ways they can go with this. If they keep this madness going and there is some underlying depth to a storyline, it would be sustainable.

Here's the lesson

To stand out in the world today, competence doesn't cut it. Competence doesn't create conversations. Competence isn't culturally relevant.

If your marketing is competent, it's ignorable.

Nutter Butter is no longer ignorable because they have stepped off the cliff and taken a dive into audacity.

What you'll learn in my new book is that you don't have to be horrific or shocking to be audacious, but you do have to disrupt the marketing patterns in your industry. With the help of some of the world's most renowned creative experts, I'll teach you how to disrupt your marketing narrative.

I can't wait for you to see the new book ... and I also have a new speech on this topic!

I appreciate you and the time you took out of your day to read this! You can find more articles like this from me on the top-rated {grow} blog and while you’re there, take a look at my Marketing Companion podcast and my keynote speaking page. For news and insights find me on Twitter at @markwschaefer, to see what I do when I’m not working, follow me on Instagram, and discover my RISE community here.