WTF IS POPS?!

In Sweden, Santa Maria is a brand primarily known for Tex Mex and tacos. In 2023 they debuted in the snacking category, a category that is extremely competitive and saturated by large players such as Estrella and OLW. Pops was a brand-new form of popped chips, unfamiliar to the Swedish consumers. This in combination with Santa Maria being new to the snacking shelf resulted in low product awareness. Even after a previous large launch campaign, studies showed that the consumer did not understand the product and sales did not reach the target goals.

To drive trials for Pops, we needed to get people to buy and try this new snack. Our approach was to use people’s curiosity to convey that you must try Pops yourself to understand what it was – otherwise you’ll miss out on what everyone is talking about. The classic ‘FOMO’ in a not-so-classic snack campaign.

People tend to trust ‘regular people’ more than brands. We invited a few people to try Pops for the first time, while filming their honest and weird reactions to what Pops was. They had no script and were encouraged to say exactly what they thought about, resulting in humorous comparisons and heart-warming parables. The test group’s sayings were used as the end plate of the film, making the result self-distanced and very unlike other ads in the category. Our aim was to tap into people’s curiosity about this new snack, while being as product-focused as possible.

In addition to the videos, influencer content using the concept of ‘WTF is Pops’ went live during the same period, spreading awareness and curiosity about the product.