MAKING A GEN Z-WORTHY ALMOND

Turning up the heat on snack time

You may or may not be surprised to hear that almonds don’t hit hard with Millennial and Gen Z consumers, significantly under-indexing with those audiences. So, we created new Blue Diamond Xtremes almonds in 3 hot hot spice levels: Cayenne Pepper, Ghost Pepper, and Carolina Reaper.

We dug deep with our data team, Blue Diamond’s innovation team, and a research partner to uncover 3 key learnings that anchored Xtremes:

  • Spicy is an underdeveloped area for snacking, with room to grow.

  • Spicy attracts Millennial & Gen Z consumers, with Gen Z being a major proponent of extremely spicy.

  • Heat tolerance is a badge of honor, offering a way to connect with and challenge others.

Consumer reception:
😅 34% happy with spice level
🥵 5% too spicy
😒 32% not spicy enough

Then, we made a campaign to put heat-seekers’ taste buds to the test.

Insight: Heat seekers push their heat tolerance to the limits to demonstrate their toughness.

Strategic Idea: A super spicy superfood snack to test your toughness.

Creative Idea: The Super Spicy Super Food.
Blue Diamond Xtremes are a deliciously painful contradiction. They’re both good for you yet undeniably spicy. It’s enough to send your taste buds into a state of complete confusion.

Social Idea: #28Xtremes Challenge.
We partnered with influencers to introduce our new Xtremes almonds with an Xtreme challenge that was sure to spread across the internet faster than it takes to feel the burn after biting into a Carolina Reaper. Why 28? That’s our serving size. 😉

Results:

  • 2.8MM units sold

  • $9.2MM in retail sales in first 6 months

  • 10B #28Xtremes TikTok hashtag views (paid + organic)

Research Partner: Sense WorldWide