See the Steak-umm ads bringing its Twitter profundity to life

The first campaign for Steak-umm under its new creative agency takes the profundities the brand has long shared on Twitter into the real world, interacting with confused people as a wise and witty talking package. A series of new ads from Tombras shared exclusively with Ad Age has the Steak-umm “Steakperson”—a human with a Steak-umm package for a head—jumping in with low-key insight at moments where other figures in the ads hesitate and ponder, saying “Umm…” in a reference to the product name. A customer at a supermarket checkout is momentarily flummoxed when a cashier asks how he is doing. “Umm…” he begins, before the Steak-umm—cast as a bagger—informs him: “Oh, they don’t care. It’s a polite social norm. Just return the favor so we can get this ad over with.” "Good,” the customer finally replies to the cashier, “you?” This draws a blank stare and a terse reply. “Huh?” Steak-umm is one of the Internet’s most fascinating brand personalities, explicitly acknowledging its role as a sales device and the absurdity of a brand forging a relationship with real customers in an authentic and off-kilter way that has attracted the admiration of thousands of young consumers. It has built a following of more than 227,000 on Twitter behind a personality created by Allebach Communications, Steak-umm’s creative agency since 2015. These consumers have witnessed the brand deliver succinct commentary on big and small issues in culture, regularly addressing hot-button topics that other brands wouldn’t dare to come near. A recent tweet imparted advice on how to process reports from Ukraine: when global history is happening in real-time it can feel impossible to tell what's real or not based on an agreed-upon fact set. being diligent about verifying information/not sharing unsubstantiated takes is crucial to keep misinformation from spreading in times of crisis— Steak-umm (@steak_umm) February 28, 2022 Self-awareness and brands' roles as online entities are also frequent topics, often punctuated by a “steak-umm bless” signoff: writing tweets for a beef company is cool because i get to dabble in topics like yummy beef and collapsy society— Steak-umm (@steak_umm) December 14, 2021 most brands on twitter sound more or less the same these days because the blueprint to being Extremely Online is widely accessible due to its popularity so even marketers who aren’t as Online can now mimic the style steak-umm bless— Steak-umm (@steak_umm) November 2, 2021 Quaker Maid Meats, Steak-umm’s parent company, earlier this year shifted its creative account to Tombras as a means of capitalizing on that momentum. Knoxville, Tennessee-based Tombras is known for its role in developing other distinct brand voices online, including Twitter accounts for MoonPie, Big Lots and Zaxby’s. It recently took on Subway with a charge to bring its “Eat Fresh Refresh” positioning to life on social media. Max Scannapieco, VP of sales and marketing for Quaker Maid, confessed the company had no idea at the time of its Twitter launch that the brand could realize the kind of success it has. “Knowing the history of Steak-umm and the iconic nature of the brand, we believed we could have a unique presence that could resonate with consumers, [and] we wanted to use social media to capture a new audience,” Scannapieco said in emailed comments to Ad Age. “The expectation was high but we obviously far exceeded it. And it was a snowball, our success didn’t happen overnight, it built and now we’re looking to build even further on this and expand our reach.” Tombras created 12 ads in an integrated media plan running on connected and streaming TV, programmatic, paid social, and YouTube. Steak-umm declined to specify what it is spending. The buy includes eight 6-second spots, one 20-second ad and three 15-second ads. It marks Steak-umm's biggest video ad splash since Allebach's “Release Your Carnivore” ad in 2016, according to Quaker Maid. In one ad, a family enjoying a Steak-umm dinner is interrupted when a child asks his parents where babies come from. As a surprised Mom says “Umm…” the Steak-Umm character whispers to the child, who then screams. Other ads show the Steak-umm character as the supermarket cashier; in one, he awkwardly reaches around his box head so as to scan the barcode on the back, remarking “There's gotta be a better way to find out your own self-worth.” The brand strategy is to convey the notion that Steam-umm is “100% real,” featuring only one ingredient, Tombras executives said. The character—who until now has appeared as a visual meme in some tweets—helps to bring its social voice and insights to a larger audience using the same transparency and honesty for which is so admired on Twitter. Ad Age A-List 2022 Best agencies of the year, ranked Top production companies to know about Definitive rankings of advertisers and agencies “The clear job to be done with Steak-umm was capturing the voice that broke through on social and taking it further up the funnel into new channel,” Dooley Tombras, president of Tombras, said. “We explored many outside-the-box territories, but ultimately the Steaksperson was the perfect vehicle to deliver the iconic 100% real brand voice of Steak-umm. At the end of the day that voice is actually even more important than the brand icon itself.” Tombras’ goal is to increase awareness and drive trial, translating the Twitter success the brand has seen in recent years to increased sales. It is aiming at a core audience of 25- to 45-year-old males. “The direction Tombras is taking the Steak-umm brand is just what we’d hoped for when choosing to partner with them,” Scannapieco said. Thanks in part to expanding its appeal to millennials behind its Twitter persona, Steak-umm has outpaced COVID-aided growth trends in the frozen category, Scannapieco said. “This is an important transitional moment for Steak-umm, because for the first time we’re exploring what the brand’s voice sounds and looks like outside the feed,” Dooley Tombras added. “The tension and irony of a frozen beef brand getting real with people about real topics has Seinfeldian potential. You really only get one chance to do that, and when it works we’ll have that much more room to evolve and grow.”

See the Steak-umm ads bringing its Twitter profundity to life

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