Hefty’s Red Solo Cup Social Media Campaign

Posted on by Christina Allison

During the month of April, a digital-only social media campaign was released which caused the heads of many, including my own, to do a double take, or shall I say hit replay. Ingeniously crafted by Havas Worldwide Chicago earlier this year, Hefty developed a video series entitled Party Hard Moms, with the hope of bringing light to Reynolds new Hefty Ultimate Easy Grip plastic cups.

All of the videos in the series feature wholesome, happy, respectable moms completing stereotypical motherly activities such as reading a book, cleaning the laundry and unpacking groceries. At this point, you may wonder why would one choose to create a commercial featuring moms and red solo cups? Isn’t that a bit contradictory? Well, the creative department behind this campaign structured it so that the mothers are providing recounts of their wild night before using the common slang of young millennials. A handful of the words mentioned include: the struggle is real, twerking, throw shade, hangry, foam party, crawlspace, bye felicia, dat beard doh, i’d swipe right for that, normcore, turnt, I can’t even, cray, literally dying, RIP me, sorry not sorry, bae, obvi, and on fleek.

The series consists of three ads: “Turnt,” “#Blessed,” and “Worth It.” The first one highlights a mom telling a story about a crazy party she attended. The second features a mom drinking a latte talking about a “thirsty chick” from a party as well as a hot delivery driver. Last but not least, the third one focuses on a mom talking about winning a drinking game at a wild pool party.

Check out the trio of videos!

 

The ad which made mom’s all around the United States interested in learning teenage vernacular was one deemed quite successful. This digital video series remains triumphant because of their portrayal of their target audience, moms who do the shopping. Aside from the expected “mom look,” Havas Worldwide Chicago displayed these women in a light much different than the maternal stigma. Director of marketing for Hefty, Lynnette Hinch, states that “traditionally, moms are depicted in a one-dimensional way and we know that they are more complex than that.” Although the stereotype of an annoying teen is not the preferred stereotype for moms, it is something that is definitely seen as unique, cutting edge and unexpected to say the least.

Success of the Campaign:

The Hefty video series which contained three ads, were viewed 185,000 times on Facebook and 97,000 times on YouTube within the first 24 hours. As it pertains to Twitter, the hashtag #partyhardmoms was quite popular. Although the Hefty, a popular brand, only has a mere 4,254 followers, it still was a big viral hit. People tweeted about how this series of commercials were the funniest ads they have ever seen and that they could not stop watching the ad series. Hefty chose to go down an unexpected path to highlight the reality that moms are more “complex and multifaceted” than what many perceive them to be. The director of marketing continues the discussion of social media as it pertains to mothers by saying “their social networks are extremely important to them, and time spent with friends is often a welcome escape from the drudgery of daily life. We decided to activate that sense of fun, juxtaposing their routine tasks with recaps of epic parties from the night before. In essence, we’re giving moms permission to party harder with the ideal party cup from Hefty.”

The Hefty Cup digital series truly drew attention to them being seen as competition to the Solo brand. The trio of new commercials all captured their target audience while bringing a viral aspect to younger adults who are quite active on social media. Adweek, a well-known, reliable online advertising site which highlights all current news in the advertising field, named the Hefty Cups commercial the ad of the day the same day that it was released. The sharp yet silly campaign caught their eyes as well as the target demographic of mothers despite the 2015 slang used throughout the entirety of each campaign.

Risks of the Campaign:

Considering that the objective of the campaign was to show mothers that they too can use plastic “SOLO like” cups and they should lean toward purchasing Hefty because of their ultimate strength, was indeed supported by the success of this digital series. Ones that take risks , go beyond expectations and truly deliver an experience, and Hefty outstandingly did so. People tend to view Hefty as a trash bag brand and not one that makes durable plastic cups targeted at the demographic of suburban mothers. Through the memorable and quite impressionable commercials, the three advertisements did a superb job poking fun at one demographic, young adults, to reel in mothers who might hear the words used in the digital series regularly from their children.

Campaign Strategy:

There were many strategic aspects to the creation of this campaign series, the first one being that the consistency of the #partyhardmoms at the end of each video added to the memorable aspect of the campaign. The repetition of the phrase engrains it in the minds of viewers to check out the Twitter hashtag. This was a brilliant decision on their behalf because it moves the target from one platform to another, encouraging them to further engage with the mediums. Another wise decision on behalf of Hefty was their decision to use 2015 slang that connected to millennials. Considering that the target demographic are mothers, it was smart to use language that their children would use to not only add a hilarious spin to the series but reel in mothers to hearing words that their children would use. It is also a smart strategic move to use “teen speak” because parents tend to find joy in embarrassing their kids, therefore by having them use the language their young adult children use, it is a fun way to have parents poke fun at teen culture.

Reflecting after research of this social media digital only campaign, one may take away that unexpected twists such as changing the way a demographic acts (i.e. having moms speak like children) adds a freshness to the realm of advertising. The fact that the ad spots spread quickly within 24 ours goes to show the power of social media advertising and the potential of interacting with viewers solely via social media outlets. The campaign had more room to be successful if they had used the media planning department to possibly consider if the content could have had the potential to become viral if additionally placed on television. Although the digital sphere has the capability to grab numerous target audiences nationwide, placing the trio series on television networks popular with moms such as TLC, HGTV and Food Network could have increased the amount of people who interacted with the product and in turn purchased Hefty Ultimate Cups.

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