Check this out: Nutella’s top three Facebook fan pages gather more than 5 million Nutella spooners or spreaders and the numbers are growing exponentially. The main page is No. 3 on Facebook, on the heels of Barack Obama (No. 1) and Coca Cola (No. 2), and boasts 3.5 million fans. How’s that for social media success and what are they doing right?
To be perfectly honest, nobody really knows.
People Are Talking
In 2008 Jennifer Laycock reported about Nutella’s popularity at a blogging convention and not even a year later, Nutella was already No. 4 in the Facebooksphere. Today, Nutella’s FB page is the talk of the town with the Los Angeles Times, Brandweek and Creative Match. It’s even become a case study in social media workshops (see slide 33 of this slideshow). So … what’s the fuss about?
Possible Reasons
Social media buzz experts credit Nutella’s Facebook popularity to these characteristics:
1. It’s European and people think Nutella is cool.
2. It reminds people of memories/trips to Europe.
3. It has such a unique taste. And oh yeah, it’s too good to be true.
The Fans Take the Reins
The unbelievable part? The Nutella FB page was started by a fan. Not Nutella. Nutella only spent $300,000 on marketing (not even social marketing) in 2008 so clearly, they’re just happy when sales go up. Some see this as a shocking example of a brand ignoring its online community.
Sounds like the only online marketing effort of Nutella USA has been an online sweepstakes (that I shamelessly entered) to win a case of Nutella. All you need to do is answer 5 basic questions about your Nutella consumer habits. The survey has been online for 2 years. What are they getting out of it? I, for one, hope to get a case of Nutella.
Yes a case, and I’ll eat it. I’m a die-hard Nutella lover. When I buy Nutella, it’s actually by the case. I have the official Nutella cookbook on my bookshelves. I use an empty 10-lb jar of Nutella to store my sugar. My 4-year-old will only eat Nutella on toast for breakfast. And if I needed an excuse to spread the word, the Nutella World Day is today. Now, I should probably become a fan of Nutella’s FB page too and do my share to contribute to Nutella’s fan-fueled online popularity.
Are you a fan? Tell us why.
Laure Latham Guyot
Comments
Connections
Good posting!
I think the question is not necessarily why it has so many fans, but rather what is the marketing value of such fanship and is it driving the business? Has Nutella experienced a sales lift as a result of this fan-developed advocacy, or are these fans who are already buying the product?
Don’t get me wrong, a brand fan is a very, very good thing, but tying it to improved business results would be incredibly powerful.
Jonathan Cohen
Group Strategy Director
Organic
Good point Johnathan. Facebook “Friends” & “Fans” can be added quite easily. The key is turning them into actual consumers so they can be monitized for the company.
Thanks for your questions. After your comments, I decided to contact Nutella USA to get their view on this phenomenon. It proved more challenging than I thought.
There is no email contact on the Nutella USA website so I called the Consumer Relations number on the Ferrero USA (parent company) website, found under Terms of Use. The Ferrero USA receptionist wouldn’t transfer me to a media person at Ferrero because I didn’t have their name. He wouldn’t give me the name of their PR agency either because he was not allowed. I offered to email him my posting so he could transfer it to the person in charge so they could call me back. “You can’t do that, we don’t have a company email,” he replied. Really, in Somerset New Jersey?
In the end I left all my contact details, explained what this was regarding and I’m hoping that a marketing person at Ferrero will return my call. Honestly this is not very consumer-friendly for a consumer relations line.
To answer your questions, I don’t know whether the FB success has any effect on the consumer base. If and when I hear back from Nutella, I’ll make sure to post the results. Until then, ciao bambini!
I will not eat Nutella unless they opt to lose the palm oil. I make a point of not eating things with palm oil in them. I too could not find an email address to send my concerns to.
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