“We wanted to depict [Fox] as an icon, not make it look creepy. We trusted her, but also gave our input to make sure we had that iconic look,” Hess said.
The response to Fox’s debut penetrated pop culture. On launch day, the stunt scored a social sentiment of 51.3% positive and 47.6% neutral, with more than 1 billion earned media impressions so far.
Since then, a Johannes Leonardo employee has spotted a young woman on the New York subway wearing the hair dye, and the agency’s communications executive dyed his own hair Velveeta yellow, Hess said: “It looked really impressive.”
Beyond the buzz surrounding Fox’s Velveeta hair-do, the brand has seen “La Dolce Velveeta” translate to business growth, especially with younger consumers, according to Vance.
The brand has seen the highest conversion from “consideration” to “purchase” among Millennials compared to other demographics, she added. And among its target audience on TikTok, it saw a 44% increase in followers among 18- to 24-year-olds last year.
“La Dolce Velveeta” has spanned areas from bar culture to fashion to beauty, and going forward, “nothing’s off the table,” Vance said. What makes the campaign unpredictable and interesting is that “how people live outrageous pleasure differs,” she noted.
Velveeta’s ethos means that “consumers are playing a role in bringing the brand to life,” Hess observed. “We’re giving them the tools to live that pleasurable life themselves.”
