Walgreens Has A Cult ‘Peelable’ Candy, Courtesy Of A TikTok Craze
It’s tiny, squishy, chewy, shaped like a cute baby mango and GenZers have gone crazy over it. Walgreen’s can’t keep it in stock.
“The interactivity of it is really cool and it’s what makes the peelable candy really fun,” said Marty Esarte, vice president of Walgreens’ owned brands, in an interview with CNN. “It also creates a discussion point: Is the outer layer better than the inner gummy or are they better together or separate?”
Esarte admits that he didn’t expect the squishy treat to become a viral hit. “Literally in about four to five days after we launched it, we sold through nearly all of the product,” he said. “If we had expected that to happen, we probably would have had more.”
For Nice Gummies, Tiktok is a good channel. Most audiences are technically in the consideration stage (everyone except perhaps diabetics or certain groups can eat gummies and are thinking of eating constantly) and if the video successfully calls them to action, they can simply buy the gummies at Walgreens later (no locational constraints mostly).
Videos of third parties (influencers) trying out the gummies and reviewing them is much more persuasive and authentic than the brand itself boasting that the candy is good (too 'corporate').
Having a video go viral and selling out is the dream of many small business owners. For professional marketers, we know that it is impossible to make this happen with certainty, what we can do is to maximise the chances by having a stream of good organic content, using good hashtags, descriptions, integrating with other channels, creating synergy with paid amplification, working with suitable influencers, etc. But luck and having a good product plays a big role as well. For more predictability in conversions, that is where paid amplification comes in.
For B2B, higher priced and more niche items, for example refrigerators and tuition classes, organic Tiktok may not work as well in of driving conversions as most FYP audiences may not be 'in market'. Organic Tiktok may serve largely to boost awareness and recall but not drive conversions, although it can also assist conversions as one of the later touches' channels with earlier touches' channels amplifying to 'in market' audiences.