Campaign: Happy Egg's partnership with @World_Record_Egg
Company: The Happy Egg Company
Agency partner: Hunter (social media, creative strategy)
Duration: June - August 2019
The Happy Egg Company, a U.K. free-range egg brand, partnered with the world’s most famous Instagram eggfluencer on a series of sponsored posts and stories to reach U.S. consumers.
Strategy
In January, a simple picture of an egg cracked the code to become the most-liked post on Instagram. The image was posted by Egg Gang (@world_record_egg).
Hunter, Happy Egg’s PR firm, recognized the moment for what it was: an opportunity to integrate the company, which was looking to increase its profile in the U.S., into the country’s cultural fabric.
"We started ideating as soon as the conversation [around the egg] started," said Hunter SVP Dena Martini Toms.
It was the perfect confluence of factors that weren’t likely to come around again.
"Egg content can be few and far between as far as pop culture opportunities," said Toms.
Hunter crafted a series of posts and stories that Toms said would "delight an audience of millions," while being authentic to both the Happy Egg brand and @World_Record_Egg’s persona. Known as Eugene, the @World_Record_Egg is an engaging, happy-go-lucky figure on social media.
Tactics
The sponsored series included six Instagram video posts and nine Instagram stories, shared on the @happyeggcousa and @World_Record_Egg accounts. The first post was uploaded in June, followed by a new post every one or two weeks until mid-August.
In one video, Eugene meditates on top of a pile of rocks as chickens cluck in the background. In another, he plays Frisbee with a friend.
"We wanted to use the opportunity to delight consumers, but also to educate them on what Happy Egg is, including their best-in-class free range farming practices," said Toms.
Results
The sponsored series received a total of 12 million video views, 2 million likes, 14,100 comments, 12,200 shares and 39,000 saves on Instagram.
"This was a phenomenon that lived on social," Toms said.
As a result, Hunter did not put a traditional PR media strategy in place.
"We really wanted to engage young consumers on Instagram," Toms added.
Over the campaign’s month-and-a half long run, Happy Egg gained more than 3,000 new followers on Instagram, a win for a company looking to make inroads with consumers outside of the U.K.
