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

The frozen meat brand, which gained admirers behind a wise and witty Twitter feed that takes on tough topics, eyes new mediums in its first campaign from Tombras.

Mar 17, 2022 - 21:02

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

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.”

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.

“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.