Ferrara Candy partners Trolli with NBA’s James Harden and his beard
Harden will feature in Trolli's 'Weirdly Awesome' campaign across its social media channels.
“We are so excited to be tapping into James’ love of Trolli on so many different levels,” Ferrara’s SVP marketing and brand strategy, Jill Manchester, told ConfectioneryNews.
Social media as prior business strategy
From February 2, Harden’s “beard” will hosted press conferences on social media, including on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, according to Ferrara’s SVP marketing and brand strategy, Jill Manchester.
“Today only on Trolli’s Twitter account, Harden’s beard will respond directly to any Tweets using #BeardlyAwesome and the Beard is taking take live questions via Trolli’s SnapChat,” Manchester said.
The social media-based campaign is part of Ferrara’s prior business strategy in 2016, according to Manchester.
In fact, Trolli’s campaigns are always inherently social, she said, because social media is part of everyday life of Trolli fan base.
“In 2016, our campaign is primarily digital and social, grounded in great new sharable content featuring James and a new TV campaign to further extend our reach,” Manchester said.
Beard-inspired gummy coming soon
Harden has become a part of new product development for the Trolli brand, Manchester said, and he inspired the new Trolli Sour Brite Weird Beards, a new product that will enter the market in April.
The new Beards product will be presented in cherry and lemon flavors, strawberry and grape, and orange and lime, all assorted in a single bag, Ferrara told ConfectioneryNews. Its retail is $1.79 per bag.
The company is currently in the middle of confirming retailers for Weird Beards, Ferrara said.
“James will continue to be a part of our new product development, with additional products launching later this year,” Manchester added.
Increased investment in top performing brands
Manchester said Trolli is one of Ferrara’s top performing brands and the leading brand in the growing sour segment.
In terms of Ferrara’s marketing spend for Trolli, she said the company is investing nearly $16m this year, a 60% increase compared to 2015.
In 2015, Ferrara posted almost $1bn in revenue in the non-chocolate confectionery category, Manchester added. Trolli delivered $167m or 15.5% growth outpacing the overall gummy category growth of 9.9%.
“As Ferrara seeks to double sales to $2 billion by 2020, Trolli is one of more than a dozen brands that will be powering the company to reach this goal.”
