KP Nuts KPow!: Everyday campaign for everyday brief

KPBack in the day, the marketing of peanuts was hardly known for its subtleties, it was a sledgehammer to crack, well, a nut.

In the one corner, you had the Page 3 “stunner” Beverley Pilkington on a pub display card promoting “Big D” nuts; in the other, Sid James and the gang were out in force for KP under the strapline: “Keep Your Hands Off My Nuts…Carry on Nibbling.” Oo-er missus.

So, dear readers, we were somewhat intrigued when a release landed about KP Snacks returning to TV for the first time in three years with a £2.5m campaign, under the strapline “KPow!”

Created by St Luke’s, the activity features two 30-second TV ads that focus on the bold flavours of the KP Nuts range and follows consumer research that showed KP’s snacks tend to be saved for special occasions or set aside for the pub. [Really?]

Anyway, the “KPow!” activity – branded “nut-tastic” by someone – is intended to change all that and to position KP Nuts as an “everyday” snack.

Featuring a cast of cartoon characters, animated by Blinkink Studio (and a great job, too), the ads, entitled “Office” and “Traffic jam”, are designed to show how the brand’s snacking range can liven up everyday situations, apparently.

“Office” depicts a dull board meeting being “shaken up” when someone cracks open a packet of Spicy Chilli KP Nuts, while “Traffic jam” shows a car full of bored youngsters in a long tailback suddenly springing to life when the brand’s Salt & Vinegar flavour nuts burst out of the glove compartment.

Simple “everyday” fare, to be honest, but KP Snacks marketing controller Ilan Arkin (you see what his parents did there?) is well chuffed. He said: “Taste is king when it comes to snacking, so our challenge was to bring taste to the forefront and convince more consumers to eat more nuts on more occasions.

“We needed to set KP apart as the ultimate snacking choice throughout the day by driving greater awareness of our bold flavour range.”

St Luke’s executive creative director Richard Denney is even more gushing: “We’re incredibly excited to share this bold new work with the world. It’s been a labour of love for the agency and client creating this modern new brand world for Britain’s favourite nut.”

So, what is the consensus around the Decision Marketing office?

First up, it always astounds us how up themselves some people in this industry are. Bless him, but exactly where “Dickie Denney” gets off on being “incredibly excited to share this bold new work with the world” is anyone’s guess.

It’s an advert for nuts mate; it’s not going to change the world, it certainly isn’t very bold and frankly you’ll be lucky if it gets people to eat nuts “everyday” with this rather “everyday” campaign.

That said, at least it’s not offensive, which, for this particular category, is a start…

Decision Marketing Adometer: A “not very nutty” 6 out of 10

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