Popchips expects 'big things' from affiliation with Kutcher

Popchips

Full Picture

"Pop culture" campaign

October 2010-ongoing

Keith Belling, founder and CEO of Popchips, says he wants to "put the fun back in snacking." And so does Hollywood celebrity and jokester Ashton Kutcher.

In June, the all-natural chipmaker named Kutcher "President of Pop Culture" for the brand, after he said he wanted to represent the company and oversee its social media. Popchips then set out to "introduce him to our snacking community," Belling says.

Popchips created a short video of Kutcher delivering a "State of the Pop Union" address (below), and it tapped AOR Full Picture to publicize the video. "We wanted to create a conversation," says Full Picture EVP Nicole Esposito.

In the video, Kutcher tells viewers he's seeking a "VP of Pop Culture" to help identify the next "big thing" and challenges them to submit their musings online via Twitter and a special blog.

Popchips posted the video on YouTube and set up a Twitter hashtag, #whatpops, which was mentioned in the video. Kutcher, who has 5 million-plus followers on his Twitter account, tweeted the video, which was posted on the Popchips Facebook page as well. The company also set up a separate blog, asking viewers to submit pop culture thoughts.

Full Picture pitched entertainment sites and food blogs. "In our usual strategy, we'd look to print first," Esposito says, "but we were speaking to an online audience."

Within four days of posting, the video had been viewed more than 6,000 times on YouTube and shared more than 1,500 times on Facebook, Esposito says. Outlets including OK!, USA Today, and celebrity news site PopEater all ran stories and posted the video.

"Kutcher represents the inter- section of pop culture, Holly- wood, and new media," Belling says. "This really is just the start."

Kutcher and Popchips will cre- ate and post more videos, while the company will keep looking through social media to find Kutcher's "VP of Pop Culture."