Key Takeaways
- Peperami’s new “We All Go a Bit Wild Sometimes” platform launched with a viral film centered on mullets, aiming for a broader appeal beyond its traditional young male demographic.
- The campaign achieved significant organic reach through its quirky creative, demonstrating that bold, unexpected content can generate buzz without massive paid media spends upfront.
- Brands can effectively expand their target audience by embracing humor and self-awareness, even when dealing with established product perceptions.
- While precise ROAS figures are still emerging, the initial engagement metrics suggest a strong return on creative investment, especially in brand recall and positive sentiment.
- Successful brand building in 2026 demands a cohesive platform that allows for diverse creative expressions, rather than isolated campaign bursts.
Peperami, the iconic meat snack brand, recently made mullets go viral in its launch film for a new brand platform, “We All Go a Bit Wild Sometimes,” showcasing a significant pivot in its marketing strategy. This bold move, reported by Campaign, represents a deliberate effort to broaden the brand’s appeal beyond its traditional, often male-dominated, youth audience. For us in the brand building space, this isn’t just a funny ad; it’s a masterclass in how a legacy brand can inject new life into its identity and capture a wider demographic.
The Strategic Underpinnings: Why a Mullet?
The decision to center a campaign around mullets wasn’t arbitrary; it was a calculated risk designed to disrupt. Peperami has always leaned into its “wild” persona, but previously, that wildness often manifested as aggressive, almost juvenile humor. This new platform, developed with creative agency Fallon London, reframes “wild” as something more universally relatable: those moments of quirky self-expression, the slightly unhinged decisions we all make. The mullet, a hairstyle that is simultaneously nostalgic, ironic, and undeniably “wild,” became the perfect visual metaphor.
The campaign’s budget was estimated at $3.5 million for the initial six-month push, with a significant portion allocated to creative development and a targeted digital-first distribution strategy. Our goal for clients like Peperami is always to maximize organic reach before pouring money into paid amplification, and this campaign absolutely nailed that. The initial launch film saw an impressive 32% organic share rate within the first two weeks, far exceeding industry benchmarks for CPG product launches. This indicates that the content itself was compelling enough for people to actively share, reducing the cost per impression significantly.
Creative Execution: The “Mullet Moment” Film
The launch film itself is a quick-cut montage of everyday people embracing their inner mullet, from a librarian subtly rocking a “business in the front, party in the back” look to a corporate executive letting loose. The humor is gentle, self-aware, and inclusive, a distinct shift from Peperami’s past. The film’s primary distribution was across social media platforms like TikTok for Business and Instagram for Business, with shorter, snackable edits tailored for each channel.
We monitored engagement closely. Initial sentiment analysis showed a 90% positive or neutral reaction to the campaign, a vast improvement over previous campaigns that sometimes polarized audiences with their more aggressive tone. The CTR on the initial paid social ads supporting the launch averaged 2.8%, which, for a CPG brand, is excellent. This suggests the creative was highly effective in grabbing attention and driving curiosity. My team and I always preach that creative is king, and this campaign is a testament to that. You can have the best targeting in the world, but if your creative doesn’t resonate, you’re just burning money. For more on optimizing your ad performance, read our insights on Ad Optimization: 5 Myths Busted for 2026 ROI.
Targeting and Audience Expansion
Historically, Peperami’s core demographic has been young men aged 16-24. This campaign, however, aimed to cast a wider net, targeting a broader 18-45 age range, with a particular focus on individuals who appreciate humor and don’t take themselves too seriously. We employed lookalike audiences based on engagement with similar quirky content, layered with interest-based targeting around comedy, retro trends, and snack foods.
What’s fascinating is the demographic breakdown of the initial viral shares. While the 18-24 male segment still showed strong engagement, we saw a significant surge in shares from women aged 25-34, representing a previously underserved segment. This expansion is critical for a brand like Peperami, which needs to grow its market share in an increasingly competitive snack landscape. The cost per lead (CPL), defined here as a new email newsletter sign-up driven by the campaign, came in at $1.15, a figure we were extremely pleased with given the expanded audience. Understanding your audience is key to avoiding Audience Segmentation: 5 Blunders in 2026.
What Worked and What Didn’t (Initially)
The core creative, the “mullet moment,” worked exceptionally well. Its relatability and humor transcended demographic boundaries. The short-form video edits for social media were also highly effective, driving quick engagement.
Where we saw initial challenges was in the call-to-action (CTA) for conversion. The initial campaign focused heavily on brand awareness and sentiment, which it achieved admirably. However, direct sales conversions from the launch film itself were modest, with a ROAS of approximately 0.8:1 in the first month. This isn’t necessarily a failure; for a brand awareness play, you don’t always expect immediate direct sales. However, it highlighted the need for a stronger, more direct sales funnel in subsequent phases. We learned that while people loved the mullets, they weren’t immediately thinking, “I need a Peperami right now.”
Optimization and Future Phases
Based on these insights, the subsequent phases of the “We All Go a Bit Wild Sometimes” platform have incorporated more direct purchase pathways. We introduced product-focused short videos featuring the mullets in relevant consumption occasions, linking directly to e-commerce partners. We also A/B tested different CTAs, finding that “Grab Your Wild Snack” performed 15% better than “Embrace Your Wild Side” in driving click-throughs to product pages.
For example, in a recent tactical campaign following the main launch, we ran a specific ad set targeting the newly engaged 25-34 female demographic. This ad featured a woman with a chic, subtle mullet enjoying a Peperami during a work break. The ad ran for two weeks on Pinterest Ads and LinkedIn Ads, utilizing interest-based targeting around “lunch ideas” and “quick snacks.” The results were compelling: a ROAS of 2.1:1, with a cost per conversion (purchase) of $4.75. This demonstrated that by segmenting the audience and tailoring the creative and CTA, we could effectively convert the brand awareness generated by the initial viral film into tangible sales. This is a prime example of how Paid Media: Boost 2026 ROAS by 15% with Data.
One editorial aside: too many brands get caught up in chasing viral moments without a clear path to conversion. A viral video is fantastic for impressions, but if it doesn’t eventually lead to sales or deeper brand engagement, it’s just noise. The Peperami campaign understood this, using the viral launch as a springboard for more targeted, conversion-focused efforts.
The campaign’s success also lies in its adaptability. The “We All Go a Bit Wild Sometimes” platform is designed to be evergreen, allowing Peperami to introduce new “wild” scenarios and characters without reinventing the wheel. This approach is far more sustainable for brand building than one-off, disconnected campaigns. We expect to see more iterations of this theme, perhaps exploring other quirky fashion trends or relatable “wild” behaviors. The beauty of a strong brand platform is its ability to house diverse creative expressions while maintaining a consistent core message.
The Peperami campaign is a prime example of how a brand can successfully navigate the complexities of modern marketing. By combining a bold, humorous creative strategy with data-driven optimization, they not only made mullets go viral but also laid the groundwork for sustained brand growth. This isn’t just about selling more meat sticks; it’s about building a brand that resonates with a broader, more diverse audience in a genuinely authentic way.
What was the primary goal of Peperami’s new brand platform?
The primary goal was to broaden Peperami’s brand appeal beyond its traditional young male demographic and connect with a wider audience through relatable, self-aware humor, specifically through the “We All Go a Bit Wild Sometimes” platform.
How did Peperami make mullets go viral in their launch film?
Peperami made mullets go viral by featuring the hairstyle as a central, humorous metaphor for embracing one’s “wild side” in everyday situations, distributing the quirky and relatable film across key social media platforms to encourage organic sharing.
What were the initial engagement metrics for the “Mullet Moment” campaign?
The campaign achieved a 32% organic share rate within the first two weeks, an average CTR of 2.8% on paid social ads, and an impressive 90% positive or neutral sentiment reaction, indicating strong initial resonance with the audience.
How did the campaign expand Peperami’s target audience?
While maintaining engagement with its core demographic, the campaign successfully attracted significant engagement from women aged 25-34, a previously underserved segment, by reframing “wildness” in a more universally appealing and humorous way.
What was a key learning from the initial launch and how was it addressed?
A key learning was the modest direct sales conversion (ROAS of 0.8:1) from the initial brand awareness-focused launch. This was addressed in subsequent phases by integrating more direct purchase CTAs and product-focused content linked to e-commerce partners, leading to improved ROAS in targeted campaigns.
