Oreo Doomsday Vault - Marketing in the News

Oreo Doomsday Vault

    Many people may recall the asteroid that was supposed to fly by the earth during 2020, but it really only had a .41% chance of actually hitting the planet. For some people that .41% chance was enough to spark some conversations and drama. Oreo on the other hand decided that if this asteroid did indeed hit the planet, their cookies would be safe from an all out extinction. So what did they do, they built an Oreo Doomsday Vault. Yes, a real vault built into the side of a hill in Norway to ensure the delicious oreo cookie is preserved through the fallout. This crazy marketing plan caught my attention because of how outlandish it is, and secondly because of the collaboration they had with Markus Thorland who specializes in building vaults!

    The article goes into further detail about the marketing and advertising plan, and there are a few main takeaways from that. First Oreo has been the best selling cookie for some time and the last thing they wanted was their famous cookie and recipes to go extinct from this asteroid. So to start their marketing plan they teased fans on social media with special packaged Oreos wrapped in mylar. For those who don’t know, mylar is a protective material that can withstand temperatures as low as -80 degrees fahrenheit and up to 300 degrees fahrenheit. With these special packages of Oreos people will have no doubt that their favorite cookie will be safe. Secondly Oreo released many youtube videos teasing these “extinction proof” cookies in which they had celebrities acting as executives from Oreo. These videos went absolutely viral and grabbed millions of peoples attention. Lastly Oreos final piece in this marketing plan was a short 2 minute video that goes into the planning of the oreo vault featuring the seed vault designer. Many of the Oreo fans that watched the video noticed how high quality the cinematography was, and how well the video was produced. This video single handedly increased their media presence and was nominated for a Shorty Award. 

    

    Oreos' value proposition has been the same ever since they started making their famous cookies. As a company they want their consumers to “Stay Playful”, and make fun moments with friends and family. 

    The marketing relevance behind the Oreo Doomsday Vault was just the timing of the asteroid in 2020. As a company during 2020 Oreo like many other companies were looking for a way to stay busy during the pandemic. So why not create a weird and crazy marketing video for people to see while being stuck in their homes. Also the whole idea of having a vault to preserve the Oreo cookie and recipe from a world ending event somewhat fits the mood that people were feeling during the 2020 covid days, because many people thought the world was slowly ending with the pandemic.

    The biggest challenge Oreo faces as a company is just being in the cookie industry. As a company that makes cookies they can only come up with so many ideas on how to make different types of cookies, or even new ways to market cookies. Luckily for Oreo they have a great marketing team that can easily come up with new creative and remarkable ideas for the company.

    

    Oreos marketing for the Doomsday Vault was definitely unique and something the people have never seen before. Yes there was a vault made before to protect all the seeds from an extinction level event, but not once has a cookie company decided that they need to protect their cookies in such an extreme way. It was also very unique in the sense that Oreo actually went out and bought land in Norway, built a real vault, and packed it with cookies!

    I think Oreos' marketing plan here was perfect. They timed it perfectly with the events going all in the world at the time. Also their use of media during the time was extremely smart, because many people were stuck inside which resulted in more people spending more time on their phones or other devices. 

    If I were in charge of the Oreo marketing team during this time I would’ve loved this idea and I would have also gone the same route as they did. The idea is just so outlandish and remarkable that it can't be ignored by the people.

    The one main thing I learned from reading about the marketing behind the Oreo Doomsday Vault was that timing is key when it comes to good marketing plans. Oreo timed their marketing for this so well, that millions of people saw it and the whole plan went viral in just a few short days.

Some more cool articles on the Oreo Doomsday Vault:

https://shortyawards.com/13th/the-oreo-doomsday-vault-2

https://www.360i.com/work/oreo-doomsday-vault/index.html