Andy Cohen is pretty comfortable around both dudes and rainbows. That’s a good thing, since he stars in Nerds’ Super Bowl LX ad, a polychromatic pageant with one big bro in a swimming pool.
Not that this spot is a celebration of diversity—at least, not outwardly. All those pink, yellow, orange, and green pebbles are actually Nerds Gummy Clusters blown up to human scale.
As for the big man, his name is Gummy. The anthropomorphic candy made his Super Bowl debut two years ago in Nerds’ sendup of the signature scene from Flashdance, and returned last year to march down the street with a brass band led by Shaboozey.
That the candy has recently doubled in girth (“Whoa, you’re juicy and you’re mega now?” an astonished Cohen asks Gummy) is the plot here, with Cohen helping Gummy get ready for his red carpet debut.
In its third year in the Big Game, parent company Ferrara continues to spotlight its preeminent brand. While the Ferrara owns legacy names like Pixy Stix, Chuckles, and SweeTarts, Nerds Gummy Clusters is the workhorse of the stable, pulling in around $900 million a year. So the 118-year-old confectioner is its willing to pay for the sort of attention that only the Super Bowl can deliver.
“It’s a way to get so much visibility and bring new households into the brand,” vice president of global brands Katie Duffy told ADWEEK. “The third year [in the Super Bowl] really just continues to reflect our momentum.”
It also it reflects a lot of R&D. Nerds debuted in 1983 (the same year as Flashdance) as packets of sweet, crunchy gravel. Ferrara saw its potential, buying Nerds from Nestle in 2018 and immediately tweaking the candy.
“The [original] candy was viewed as somewhat childlike, pretty messy, hard to share,” Duffy said.
Nerds Gummy Clusters—which emerged from the test kitchen in 2020—are big, chewy, liquid centered gummies coated in the original Nerds. According to the National Confectioners Association, 72% of Americans are regular gummy consumers.
The new and improved Nerds took off, with sales growing in the first five years from $50 million to $500 million, according to figures from Digitas, which created the ad from its Chicago office.
Ferrara believes its flagship candy has more potential still, which brings us back to Cohen. In the spot, the TV host helps Gummy (whom Cohen calls his “taste bud”) get ready for his red-carpet moment. Fortunately for Gummy—and Ferrara—Cohen’s logged plenty of paparazzi time himself, having cooked up the Real Housewives franchise and hosted Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live, among other credits.
