Good Foods Group recently launched “Guacxiety,” a campaign about the nagging uncertainty of buying an avocado and not knowing whether it will be ready when you are.
Created with challenger marketing consultancy Rival, the campaign runs across digital channels and connected TV and draws directly on the meme formats and comment-section discourse that have made avocado timing a running joke on social media. Rather than inventing a tension, the creative borrows the one consumers have already been posting about for years.
“Guacxiety” also introduces a free, limited-edition avocado stress ball, available to order at goodfoods.com beginning September 16th while supplies last. The avocado stress ball plugs into a bigger moment, one where squishy fidget toys have become a fixture of Gen Z culture on TikTok and Instagram and squeezing something soft is an ordinary way to take the edge off a stressful day. New data suggests the online discourse around fresh avocados is grounded in a real, offline frustration. In a survey conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of Good Foods Group, more than 4 in 5 Americans (83%) purchase fresh avocados. Among avocado purchasers, 82% say they get frustrated when avocados go bad before they can use them and more than two in three (68%) agree that buying fresh, whole avocados often feels like a guessing game.
"The number that stopped us was 82%. Four out of five people who buy avocados have watched one go bad before they got to use it. That is not a small annoyance, it is a repeated one, and it is why so much of the conversation online is people joking about something that genuinely bothers them," said Mandy Bottomlee, Director of Content Marketing at Good Foods Group. "That is exactly the anxiety we take off the table at Good Foods Group. We make fresh, craveable guacamole that is ready when you open it, so nobody is left guessing.”
"The tension around avocados is real, just look at the running jokes across social media,” said Mikayla Belson, Creative Director at Rival. “So when the idea of the Guacxiety Stress Ball came up, we immediately wanted to make that real, too. In our eyes, it’s the opposite of a hard sell. And that’s the spirit of the whole campaign. From the videos, to the website, to the stress balls, it’s all just a fun, light-hearted break in your day, which is a perfect fit for a brand like Good Foods.”
Good Foods makes ready-to-eat guacamole using high-pressure processing, a cold technique that preserves texture and flavor without heat. The company's products are sold at grocery stores and warehouse clubs nationwide including Costco, Kroger, Target and Publix.
CREDITS
Client: Good Foods
Consultancy/Production Company: Rival
Chief Strategy Officer: Lance Koenig
Principal, Strategy: Cecelia Parrish
Chief Creative Officer: Tim Cawley
Creative Directors: Mikayla Belson, Tim Bildsten
Copywriter: Hannah Glickenhaus
Art Direction & Web Design: Lila Berger
Integrated Producer: Matt Ruscio
Principal: Lisa Gapinske
Senior Consultant: Paige Hoffman
Editor, Camera & Sound Design: Yuri Carvahlo
Associate Producer/Editor: Mike Leyne
Director: Jonathan Bekemeier
Director of Photography: Nathan Swingle
Sound Mix: Mark Wong
Colorist: James Dunoyer, Minutemen Post
Still Photographer: Joe St. Pierre
Production Designer: Melissa Cooperman
Food Stylist: Monica Mariano
Wardrobe: Taylor Greeley
