Kerrygold’s recent brand trip proves influencer trips are still a way to generate positive buzz.
In the past couple of years, influencer brand trips have seemingly fallen out of favor with consumers. If a brand trip stirs negative conversation across social media, marketers face backlash for being out of touch and showing a gross display of wealth. But Kerrygold’s latest brand trip is evidence that doesn’t have to be the case.
From May 15 to May 18, Irish-made Kerrygold took seven creators around Ireland to show them the country’s green pastures, the cows that produce the milk that becomes Kerrygold butter, and what Irish food culture has to offer. The creators included Katie Zuckovich, Lydia Keating, Kerry Diamond, Olivia Tiedemann, and Megan Kate Swan.
The trip wasn’t Kerrygold’s first brand trip, but the combination of the beautiful landscapes and the unlikeliness of a “butter brand trip” captured TikTok’s attention and sparked reaction videos. The seven creators reached an audience of 7.7 million, up from a 2023 brand trip with creators that reached 2.3 million.
The most popular video from the brand trip, posted by Katie Zuckovich—better known as babytamango on social media—begins with her saying, “Here’s everything I ate on a butter brand trip in Ireland—no you did not mishear me.”
Zuckovich credits the success of her video to how “butter brand trip” has a nice ring to it, pointing to the alliteration, and to the surprising nature of it.
“It feels so novel—no one would ever expect a butter brand to have a brand trip,” Zuckovich told ADWEEK. “Everyone is so used to beauty and fashion companies doing it.”
The video garnered more than a million views. The reach of the video is more than Kerrygold could have hoped for on a single video, Kerrygold’s senior brand manager Kelly Harfoot told ADWEEK.
“It speaks to how a lot of consumers perceive butter as a commodity or not something that they think about being branded in the same way you would think about shoes or electronics,” said Harfoot. “It aligns with our business objectives of showing consumers why Kerrygold is worth investing in because of the way the cows are raised and the way that the milk is produced.”
The creators’ videos also set off a wave of other videos responding to the brand trip. For example, nail artist @nailedbynika wrote, “casually adding Kerrygold butter to my nail content bc the brand trip looked insane” over a video of her using a box of Kerrygold butter as a nail file and adding nail art to it. The video reached nearly a million viewers. Similar videos were posted by Booktokkers, home improvement creators, and beauty creators. Other users professed their longtime loyalty to the brand.
According to Kerrygold, the trip generated 92 reaction videos that earned 3.4 million views in total. Its last brand trip in 2023 only saw a handful of reactions.
Kerrygold’s brand trip strategy
Kerrygold chose creators for the trip based on the creator’s audience reach and if their audience genuinely engages with food content, said Harfoot. “We also want to know what is their storytelling style? What are their visual aesthetics? How do they bring the Kerrygold story to life?”
One of the main goals of the brand trips is to foster long-term relationships and brand affinity from creators that reach a younger audience. Zuckovich, for example, has worked with Kerrygold in the past.
Kerrygold doesn’t give creators strict posting requirements. Rather, the brand allows creators to post what is natural to their content and voice. “We challenge ourselves to create moments that are just really unique and shareable,” said Harfoot. “Moments where our creators stop and want to take this video and pose for this picture because it’s something they’re so excited about.”
“Seeing success on social media is sometimes a lightning in a bottle moment”
But despite Kerrygold’s intentional planning, sometimes the reasons something resonates online are outside of a brand’s control. “Seeing success on social media is sometimes a lightning in a bottle moment,” said Harfoot.
For example, the content captured on the trip was so striking partially due to the unusually good weather—a rarity in Ireland. Plus, butter yellow is a popular trend on the internet.
“Butter yellow was [having a moment] which again, just divine timing,” said Zuckovich. “I bought a fully new wardrobe of butter yellow just for the trip.”
A growing affinity for Ireland on social media is also a trend Kerrygold plans to explore further this year.
“How we continue to feed the interest in Ireland—knowing that’s where are roots are—will definitely be a focus as we move forward on social the rest of the year,” said Harfoot.