Gen Z under-indexed on traditional mayo, viewing it as dated and uninspired. Yet the same audience over-indexed on bold, flavor-forward sauces.
Hellmann’s Flavored Mayonnaise line was designed to meet that appetite — but it remained tethered to the stigma of the core product.
To drive growth, Hellmann’s needed to break the mental link between “mayo” and “boring” and prove its flavored lineup was something entirely different: crave-worthy, culture-ready, and worth trying.
On social, mayo is polarizing. It inspires passionate vocal haters and those opinions sometimes feel performative. Dislike is declared loudly, debated publicly, and shared for entertainment.
For Gen Z, strong takes are social currency. When it comes to mayo, there is no middle ground — and the internet thrives on that tension.
If Hellmann’s could turn skepticism into participation, it could shift the conversation from opinion to experience.
Rather than defend mayo, we would challenge its critics.
A social-first approach invited outspoken skeptics to “eat their words” by tasting Hellmann’s Flavored Mayonnaise and sharing their real-time reactions.
To anchor the idea in culture, we partnered with Bravo talent Lindsay Hubbard and West Wilson, tapping into their built-in chemistry and existing food-related banter to spark the challenge organically within entertainment and lifestyle spaces.
By turning a familiar phrase into a public action, we transformed debate into trial, and trial into conversation.
IDEA
Eat Your Words.
Hellmann’s challenged vocal mayo haters to publicly taste Hellmann’s Flavored Mayonnaise and respond on camera.
What began as playful banter between Lindsay Hubbard and West Wilson became a repeatable, social-native challenge across creators, media, and fans. Short-form video, reaction culture, and real-time commentary fueled participation.
The simple act of tasting — and admitting when you were wrong — turned skepticism into curiosity, curiosity into trial, and trial into measurable brand and sales impact.
Brand lift studies showed a +13pp lift in purchase intent, with all brand attributes improving directionally. “Hellmann’s differentiates itself from other mayonnaise brands” increased by +13pp.
HBF Flavored Mayo unit sales increased by 18% YoY when the Flavored Mayo category was down by -8.6% YOY during the campaign time period.
During this key time frame, HBF spicy (our featured flavor) increased unit velocity +4.6%, when the flavored mayo category unit velocity declined -5.5%. That's nearly 4X better.
The campaign generated 1.6B+ earned impressions and 1,383 editorial and social placements, with 85% positive sentiment, 100% key message inclusion, and 96% video link inclusion. Social and influencer content exceeded benchmarks, delivering +37% influencer engagement and +66% owned engagement.
Organic search volume grew 5,000% post-launch.
