Nerds’s Super Bowl ad may just be rolling out now, but it was almost a year in the making.
The team started brainstorming in March, right after the success of the brand’s debut Super Bowl ad in 2024, according to Nerds’s global marketing director, Joey Rath. That ad featured an animated Nerds Gummy re-creating a dance from the 1983 film Flashdance, featuring an appearance from creator Addison Rae.
Like the 2024 spot, this year’s ad taps into “newstalgia,” Rath said, and this year’s 30-second spot features rising hip-hop/country artist Shaboozey putting a Gummy Clusters–inspired spin on Louis Armstrong’s hit 1967 song “What a Wonderful World.”
As Shaboozey walks down the street singing, behind him dances the same Gummy character from last year’s ad and countless Nerds candies. The ad features the same tagline as last year: “unleash your senses.”
Referencing pop culture of old combined with current celebrity power is a play by the brand to capture Gen Z consumers as well as other demographics, according to Rath
“It was important for us to partner with somebody who also had that broad appeal,” she told us.
Gummy Clusters is one of Nerds’s most popular offerings, seeing a 50% YoY spike in retail dollar sales as of December 2024, according to Circana data. The brand’s first-ever Super Bowl ad last year certainly appears to have helped: the brand’s household penetration has risen by 4.3 points since the ad aired, Rath said.
“Household penetration is far and away the biggest driver of growth for the brand, and we know that because Gummy Clusters is the biggest source of that growth,” she said. “That’s where we’re continuing to invest.”
The Big Easy
This year’s Super Bowl ad is meant to pay homage to host city New Orleans, according to Rath, although it wasn’t actually filmed there (Rath said it was filmed at an “undisclosed location”). Armstrong, of course, was born and raised in New Orleans, and for the spot, Shaboozey helped create a remake of the song.
Like in last year’s ad where Nerds referenced aspects of Flashdance, this year the brand sought to modernize a classic. Nerds chose to work with Shaboozey for his wide musical reach “spanning across multiple genres,” Rath said—a choice that probably looks even more prescient now that Beyoncé’s country album, Cowboy Carter, which Shaboozey is featured on, took home album of the year at the Grammys. Another reason is the artist’s proximity to Gen Z: At 29 years old, he’s just a tad older than the Gen Z demographic Nerds is targeting.
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Besides airing on TV, Nerds’s Super Bowl spot will get promotion across digital video and paid social platforms like TikTok, Rath said. Nerds also has other media activations up its sleeve, including a custom playlist on Spotify and a Snapchat lens.
Friends in high places
Gummy Clusters has been a resounding success for the brand since the product rolled out in 2020. Kylie Jenner organically posted about her love for the candy, creating a surge in interest, and in the first 10 months of 2024, the candy generated more than $500 million in sales, according to the Wall Street Journal—more than 10x the sales that all of Nerds was generating seven years prior.
“Nerds has continued to rise in culture,” Rath said.
Another boost for Gummy Clusters and similar candies? Shifting consumer tastes and a rise in cocoa prices have prompted some candy companies to lean into non-chocolate offerings.
To keep the Gummy Clusters hype going, Nerds is focusing on more than just the Super Bowl. From the beginning of football season in September through the end of February, the brand is running a “Make the Rivalry Sweeter” sweepstakes featuring limited-time Gummy Clusters flavors, and Nerds is also managing a retail marketing operation that Rath described as “bigger and better than ever,” with Nerds displays inside grocery stores and other retailers. Nerds also leans into seasonal candy sales with limited-edition flavors, like white, purple, and orange Gummy Clusters sold around Halloween, and a pink, red, and white version for, you guessed it, Valentine’s Day.