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When actress Julia Fox appeared at a New York Knicks game on March 31 flaunting a golden-hued dye job by Velveeta, many people assumed it was another bizarre April Fools’ joke from a brand.
Fox’s unique look attracted paparazzi, generated online buzz and made headlines in entertainment press such as People and E!—the kind of attention that would be any marketer’s dream.
But this was no prank. As Stephanie Vance, Velveeta’s brand manager, told ADWEEK: “We don’t joke about pleasure.”
Velveeta’s collaboration with Fox was the latest in a series of offbeat marketing stunts as part of its “La Dolce Velveeta” platform, which debuted in November 2021. The campaign has taken an unexpectedly glossy and indulgent route—from cheese-flavored martinis to scented nail polish to Federico Fellini-style films—that has seen Velveeta behave more like a lifestyle brand than an old refrigerator staple.
It’s all happened in the name of “encouraging consumers to live for pleasure,” Vance said, with the ultimate goal of becoming relevant again among younger generations. So far, its marketing tactics have paid off and helped reinvent a more than 100-year-old brand.
“We needed to give [Velveeta] a glow up—or a ‘gold up,’” said Vance.
Refreshing a heritage brand
Before it inspired beauty products and cocktails, Velveeta gained popularity in kitchens for its smooth, meltable quality. Swiss cheese maker Emil Frey invented Velveeta in 1918, and Kraft acquired it in 1927.
Marketing messages about the creamy, yellow block of processed cheese have ranged from 1940s ads that promoted Velveeta as a practical and “hearty” product during war time, to a 1950s ad touting its nutrients for “weight-watching” mothers.
The market for processed cheese in the U.S. grew steadily over several decades until its peak in 1996, but then started declining in the early 2000s amid increased awareness of the health effects of processed foods. Velveeta began to position itself more as a side dish or special ingredient, such as the basis for a queso dip at a party or a comforting macaroni & cheese.
Though it became known as a Super Bowl party staple, Velveeta’s sales fell in both 2018 and 2019. Then it saw an unexpected 24% sales surge in 2020 as people stocked up on long-life foods during the Covid-19 pandemic. That marked a turning point, and an opportunity for the brand to translate its temporary boost into longer-term appeal.
“Velveeta was a very dusty brand before 2021. We had lost a lot of our magic and our mojo,” Vance said. “We had to figure out how to create relevance in younger consumers’ lives moving forward.”
Velveeta’s marketing team surveyed its target audience—Gen Z and millennials—and uncovered a few truths. One, many people saw Velveeta as “this permissible indulgence, the epitome of ‘hit-the-spot’ food,” Vance said. “We came across a quote that said, ‘Sex is great, but have you ever had Velveeta?’”
The research also revealed a certain attitude among a younger cohort: “They go all in on the things they love. They want a life that prioritizes moments and experiences that are pleasure-filled,” Vance observed. “There was another quote that said, ‘I think of my body as an amusement park, not a temple.’”
By connecting the dots between the product’s cheesy goodness and young people’s hunger for experiences, the brand found its purpose: “Velveeta stands for outrageous pleasure. It’s a pleasure wingman,” Vance said.
The cheesy life
The brand platform’s name, “La Dolce Velveeta,” is inspired by Fellini’s 1960 cinema classic La Dolce Vita, which in Italian means “the sweet life.” One of the main characters in the film is Sylvia, an electric and free-spirited actress “who embraced an unapologetic lifestyle,” said Michael Hess, creative director at Johannes Leonardo, Velveeta’s ad agency.
In that spirit, Velveeta and the agency devised a campaign that “embraces people who live life in their own, unapologetic ways and make bold statements,” Hess said.
Instead of focusing on the product alone, the platform often ventures outside the realm of food to promote an “attitude and a mindset” of unapologetic pleasure-seeking, Vance explained.
Since introducing the concept with a series of vignettes of people living their best lives, the messaging has grown increasingly bolder and more confident. Like other advertisers that have stepped outside their categories to mimic lifestyle brands—from Lucky Charms to Magnum ice cream to Barbie—Velveeta’s marketing is more akin to luxury or fashion communications. Food snobs may turn their noses up at a block of Velveeta, but its stunts have often punched above that image.
There was the Velveeta-scented nail polish, infused martini and the “Foodie Call,” which invited people to rethink their late-night booty calls by ordering cheesy snacks. Last year, its luscious films paid homage to Fellini, spotlighting a cast of unusual characters who live life on their own terms.
This year, Johannes Leonardo took it further, asking: What’s one of the boldest statements a person can make? It’s often their hairstyle.
Penetrating culture
“La Dolce Velveeta” hadn’t worked with a celebrity before. But Fox embodied everything that Velveeta was trying to convey.
“She’s known as this icon of doing what she wants,” said Vance. She’s also “the queen of self-expression and resonates with a younger audience,” Hess added.
The hair dye that Fox wore was custom made to match Velveeta’s specific yellow shade. “It was not an easy task,” Hess recalled.
Crucially, the look that Velveeta developed with Fox “had to be authentic to her,” Vance said. As a brand venturing outside its core category, it would have been easy to come across as cringeworthy.
“We wanted to depict [Fox] as an icon, not make it look creepy. We trusted her, but also gave our input to make sure we had that iconic look,” Hess said.
The response to Fox’s debut penetrated pop culture. On launch day, the stunt scored a social sentiment of 51.3% positive and 47.6% neutral, with more than 1 billion earned media impressions so far.
Since then, a Johannes Leonardo employee has spotted a young woman on the New York subway wearing the hair dye, and the agency’s communications executive dyed his own hair Velveeta yellow, Hess said: “It looked really impressive.”
Beyond the buzz surrounding Fox’s Velveeta hair-do, the brand has seen “La Dolce Velveeta” translate to business growth, especially with younger consumers, according to Vance.
The brand has seen the highest conversion from “consideration” to “purchase” among Millennials compared to other demographics, she added. And among its target audience on TikTok, it saw a 44% increase in followers among 18- to 24-year-olds last year.
“La Dolce Velveeta” has spanned areas from bar culture to fashion to beauty, and going forward, “nothing’s off the table,” Vance said. What makes the campaign unpredictable and interesting is that “how people live outrageous pleasure differs,” she noted.
Velveeta’s ethos means that “consumers are playing a role in bringing the brand to life,” Hess observed. “We’re giving them the tools to live that pleasurable life themselves.”
