This post is sponsored by Trolli.
It’s practically a requirement these days that brands targeting younger consumers have a social media presence and a finger on the pulse of pop culture. Taking it to the next level by weaving customers’ interests into product development and marketing allows brands to build buzz and cultivate a loyal, engaged customer base.
“Some say, ‘you are what you eat,’” said Allison Wyrwicz, senior brand manager for Trolli at Ferrara Candy Company. “Here at Trolli, we believe that you are so much more than what you eat. Trolli stands for celebrating unique style, encouraging self-expression and creating out of the ordinary fun.”
The Weirdly Awesome brand — known for its brightly colored, sour gummi confections — aligns itself with strategic partners and influencers in the worlds of fashion, gaming, sports and more to reach millennial and Gen Z consumers. Trolli’s R&D and marketing teams have collaborated to launch products and campaigns that take inspiration from everything from pop culture memes to star athletes.
“We discuss the newest pop culture, candy and snacking trends and what we see aligning with our consumers’ interests and passions,” Wyrwicz said. “Our R&D team then explores everything from what flavor combinations will work best and what colors would help bring this concept to life, to what are the various ways we can achieve the desired shape in gummi form.”
Trolli works with a wide range of brand-right influencers and partners to create products and campaigns that have reach in all realms of pop culture, such as the first candy fashion line it created in 2017 in partnership with fashion brand Mokuyobi.
For the launch of its Sour Brite Sloths, inspired by the popularity of internet memes featuring the cute, lazy critters, Trolli teamed with online gamer FaZe Blaziken, who promoted the candies to his Twitter followers.
The brand’s latest release, Sour Brite Sneaks, are shoe-shaped gummies inspired by the fashion-forward footwear of basketball star James Harden. Trolli got creative with social for the Sneaks launch, treating the bite-size gummies like a real pair of sneakers and leaking the launch to sneakerheads. Trolli also became one of the first brands to build a social campaign around the new Instagram photo remix functionality.
“We invited our Instagrammer fans to customize, or remix, the Sneaks photo of the day, encouraging them to get Weirdly Awesome with it and share it back with us,” Wyrwicz said.
“It’s led to tons of great content generated by our fans that we’ve been repurposing and sharing out on Trolli’s owned channels.”
Outside of cyberspace, Trolli connects with fans at events such as Trolli night takeovers at Houston Rockets games. Since 2016, the brand has used these events to connect in person with fans and host interactive experiences such as Beardsketball — a half court hoop with Harden’s likeness that fans can interact with by shooting baskets.
The brand will continue to forge relevant partnerships with new brand creative and social media posts planned to debut this year. Also, in the works for 2018 is a new Sour Brite gummi inspired by a major movie release scheduled for May. The product will kick off the brand’s first campaign tied to a movie, giving Trolli yet another avenue to connect with consumers. Follow the brand on social media (@Trolli_USA on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat) to see what’s next, and be part of the Weirdly Awesome revolution.
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