Ohana means family, and family means Spam.
The canned-meat product has long had a place on Hawaiian families’ dinner tables, and when the brand got the opportunity to partner with Disney on the recent live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch, a beloved tale of a Hawaiian girl and her adopted pet alien, it was a seamless fit, according to Dan Kubiak, senior brand manager of Spam at Hormel Foods.
As part of a campaign that rolled out in late April ahead of the movie’s release, the food brand released three specially designed collectible Spam cans that feature island-themed artwork and Stitch’s image, as well as a 15-second ad showing the food being used in Hawaiian-beloved dishes like musubi and fried rice, which also serves as a temptation for Stitch’s mischief in the ad. The ad is running across streaming and digital platforms in various formats through June 30, as well as on national TV, and since the campaign began, it has already garnered 3 billion earned media impressions.
“Hawaii is so special to the brand,” Kubiak told Marketing Brew. “This was just a great partnership for us to drive that authentic connection with our consumer base and really tell that story together within Hawaii.”
Aloha, Spam
Spam is an American brand born in 1937, and it became popular among American troops who relied on the protein-rich food item in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and other conflicts. The story goes that US soldiers shared Spam with locals and left it behind when they departed, making the ingredient ubiquitous in many Asian cuisines—so much so that later on, when people from these countries immigrated to the US, they were surprised to find the product in American grocery stores, per Smithsonian magazine.
With Hawaii a key US military presence during World War II, many islanders also relied on Spam rations during this time, and the product has remained a part of Hawaiian culture to this day. Kubiak said this staying power is what made the campaign feel authentic to the brand and film.
“Walking through the airport, you see people wearing Spam shirts. People just have an affinity and the brand has meant so much to them,” he said. “It’s more than just sustenance. It’s creating those very unique dishes, and everyone has such a unique take.”
Spam’s Lilo & Stitch campaign went live at the beginning of AAPI month in May, helping to emphasize Spam’s cultural roots with Asian and Pacific Islander communities, and it capped off with the movie’s Memorial Day weekend release. Lilo & Stitch’s popularity contributed to the weekend being the biggest Memorial Day box office in history, a success that Kubiak said helped highlight that its “off-shelf placement” has “resonated well with customers.”
Spamalot
Spam’s Lilo & Stitch campaign isn’t the only bit of marketing the brand has cooking. It just held its 21st edition of Spam Jam, a festival celebrating the product that’s held in Austin, Minnesota, where Spam is headquartered, as well as in Hawaii; this year’s event in Oahu drew 50,000 attendees.
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Austin is also home to the Spam Museum, a kitschy attraction that sells Spam merch, details the product’s history, and is a place that Kubiak said often draws in visitors on road trips through the area. Ahead of Lilo & Stitch’s premiere, The Spam Museum offered the limited-edition cans in-store.
Despite the national campaign tied to the movie, Kubiak said Spam isn’t hurting for brand awareness. Instead, the Lilo & Stitch partnership was designed to expand its audience through pop culture, which has also been advanced through Spam’s enduring presence in popular culture, like Monty Python and the Holy Grail. In May, the brand partnered with the St. Paul Saints, a minor-league baseball team based in Minnesota, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Monty Python at a game, complete with Spam-themed T-shirts and concessions.
“This is a bit of a way for us to push towards that family audience, and also a bit more of that Gen Z and millennial audience,” Kubiak said. “It’s a really special way to provide a little bit more of an emotional hook.”
Broadening audience appeal can be a major advantage of partnering with a blockbuster film, but the Spam team was cautious of becoming just one of many brand voices hopping on the movie-as-marketing bandwagon. Kubiak said the authenticity of bringing Spam into Lilo & Stitch’s story was too perfect to pass up, and acknowledged that Spam may not have pursued the same partnership with another film.
“We don’t want to fit a square peg in a round hole with ways that we bring the brand into cultural moments, because we know that our consumers will see that,” Kubiak said. “The cool thing is that we probably have too many partnerships that we could evaluate. It’s just picking the right one.”