For its first Super Bowl ad, Nerds is appealing to Gen Z

For the first time, Nerds and its parent company, Ferrara, are going to the Super Bowl. And they’re bringing Addison Rae with them.

The candy company’s 30-second spot, released Tuesday, shows a gummy candy doing Flashdance-esque moves before being showered in Nerds and forming a Nerds Gummy Cluster. A teaser released last month implies that creator Addison Rae, who makes a brief appearance at the end of the ad, served as the coach for the dancing candy character.

Joey Rath, marketing director for Nerds Candy at Ferrara, told us the decision to get involved with the Super Bowl (and work with Addison Rae, who has nearly 89 million TikTok followers) was based on the brand’s interest in engaging with Gen Z, a demographic that has given Gummy Clusters a lot of online attention—and, evidently, sales—since the product was released in 2020.

According to Rath, Gummy Clusters have become the No. 1-selling candy at “only 15% household penetration,” meaning that the Super Bowl provides the opportunity to bring awareness to the remaining 85%—through animated song and dance.

A lot to chew on

Preparation for this year’s game began last February when the team started developing creative concepts to convey its brand positioning to its target audience—“as many eyeballs as possible,” Rath said, and specifically Gen Zers.

“They are the demographic segment that’s really propelled the brand to a category-leading position,” she said. “We wanted to make sure that our creative resonated with them.”

There’s no targeting Gen Z without social media, and the brand has cross-platform plans for game day, according to Rath. The Nerds accounts will post content that’s been planned out in advance, she said, and the team will be ready to react to online conversation as it comes in.

In the leadup to the game itself, Nerds also incorporated real-world promotional elements, including retail displays that began appearing in stores as early as October that position Nerds as “a sweet snack to eat during game day,” Rath said. During Wild Card Weekend last month, the brand partnered with Dallas Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence to further promote Gummy Clusters ahead of the Super Bowl.

Sweet on Gen Z

Nerds opted to tease out the spot ahead of the game and ask fans who they thought Addison was training in the hopes of “getting Nerds fans talking,” Rath said.

“[We] thought it’d be a really fun way to have a nod to some expert who’s teaching someone unknown in prep for their appearance in the ad,” Rath said

The prompt led to some high-profile responses, including from TikToker @girlbosstown, who called Travis Kelce “the obvious choice,” but theorized Tom Brady or Gronk as other possibilities. With the guest reveal expectations high, Rath said she wasn’t worried about the teaser potentially overhyping or outshining the actual ad.

“The teaser is just a fun way to breadcrumb into the big moment in which our new Nerds gummy will take the big stage,” she said.

Addison’s involvement in the teaser was meant to help build buzz, and her following will also be an important element as the brand activates online leading up to and during the game, Rath said.

As for whether the Flashdance reference in the broadcast ad will hit with the Gen Z demographic compared to, say, their parents, Rath said she’s confident in the movie’s place in pop culture, and hopes the ode to nostalgia conveys the “reframing of the Nerds branding you grew up with and bringing it to life in a modern, new way.”