Netflix’ breakout hit Stranger Things is full of 1980s pop culture references, including Kellogg’s frozen waffle brand, Eggo. The sweet treat from many viewers’ childhoods is the favorite food of Eleven, a mysterious girl on the show with special abilities. Luckily for those who felt a strong connection to the character and nostalgia for warm Eggos, the brand is still alive and well today.
Completely unaware of the brand’s appearance—or importance—in the first season of Stranger Things, Eggo nonetheless felt an outpouring of love from the fans. Not wanting to “L’Eggo” of that brand affinity, the brand prepared for Stranger Things Season Two with a series of experiential marketing efforts and campaigns across social media.
One such campaign is a menu of Eggo waffle recipes to pair with each episode of Season Two. An Eggo food truck arrived at the Season Two premiere in LA, where attendees and fans could sample the promoted recipes.
Mouth breathers on the internet can be annoying, so the brand created an extension for Google Chrome called “L’Eggo My Spoilers.” The extension specifically blocks spoilers related to Stranger Things so audiences can let the story unravel in their own time.
Needless to say, the excitement leading up to Stranger Things Season 2 was widespread, especially on social media. In the last 30 days, the show has been mentioned two million times, according to measurements by social media analytics firm Talkwalker.
Now that Eggo waffles are synonymous with Stranger Things, we calculated the earned media value from posts about the two brands from October 1 to 30.
“Earned media” is the value of engagements a brand receives across channels as a result of their marketing efforts. To help quantify what the value of those engagements is worth, Ayzenberg Group established the Ayzenberg Earned Media Value Index (AEMVI) and assigned a quantifiable dollar amount for marketing gains a brand receives from a campaign or individual engagement that includes social media networks and similar digital properties. (Editor’s note: AListDaily is the publishing arm of Ayzenberg Group. To read the updated AEMVI report reflecting the rapid changes in social, click here.)
Throughout the month of October, Eggo was mentioned over 41,200 times on Twitter alone, with a spike on October 27—the premiere date of Stranger Things Season Two. Eggo was mentioned 10,564 times on October 27 and 9,087 of those posts also mentioned Stranger Things. This engagement continued over Stranger Things’ premiere weekend, with a majority of Eggo-related posts also mentioning the show.
As for the official Eggo Twitter account, the brand has shown its pride for being Eleven’s favorite food with a number of posts, including this one that garnered over $1,000 in EMV.
Remember, never enter the Upside Down with an empty stomach. Watch #StrangerThings2 on Netflix, October 27. pic.twitter.com/bWeHz2n9NO
— Eggo (@eggo) October 5, 2017
The official Stranger Things account also shared the love, especially when one episode featured a special, sugary treat made with Eggos.
You: *Learns what a Triple Decker Eggo Spectacular is*
Also you: WE NEED ENERGY FOR OUR TRAVELS pic.twitter.com/jHNRmr7XqD— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) October 28, 2017
Overall, it’s safe to say that being the favorite food of Eleven has its benefits. Mentions for both Eggo and Stranger Things on Twitter earned the waffle brand approximately $201,801 in earned media value.