Andrew Zimmern, star of Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods America, devoured a plate of insects for a Snapple video series that debuts May 1.
“I’m a bigger fan of crickets than caterpillars,” he told Adweek. “Deep-fried caterpillars taste like corn chips.”
Snapple clearly wants to get folks’ attention, as evidenced by a big helping of unusual online spots in an eight-month-long video campaign dubbed “Reinfactment,” which plays on the factoids seen underneath Snapple bottle caps since 2002. For instance, Zimmern feasting on bugs points to the fact that the number of times a cricket chirps in 15 seconds plus 37 roughly equals the temperature.
“We absolutely think the [Zimmern] video will go viral,” said Dave Fleming, brand marketing director at Dr Pepper Snapple Group, “though we think all of the campaign’s personalities bring something to the table.”
Indeed, Snapple’s larger initiative involves videos from other quirky celebs. It also entails social media posts with animated gifs, memes and Twitter Vines, as digital paid ads propel the content. Steve Baer, an exec at Code and Theory, which created Snapple’s campaign, added, “To bring these stories to life, you need the right people to tell them.”
Enter the colorful Zimmern: “I jumped at the chance to work with Snapple because—while I don’t expect people to start eating insects tomorrow—we can expand the idea of what food can be in America.”
Well, some people may still just want to watch.
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