The Challenge
We partnered with Extra in its mission to transform the chewing gum category and recruit a new generation of consumers. To achieve this, we set out to reframe gum—not just as a breath-freshening product, but as an accessible, everyday tool for managing mood. To establish this new role among younger audiences, we knew we had to move beyond traditional paid media. We designed a strategy rooted in the earned, owned, and shared ecosystem, creating culturally relevant brand experiences that could spark participation and conversation. We brought this vision to life in Germany—Extra’s second-largest market in Europe by sales volume and a proven testing ground for socially driven, culture-led activations. Building on the market’s success in generating viral impact (such as its collaboration with Gen Z TikTok creator Zahide), we developed and piloted innovative, non-traditional ideas like the Extra Live Feed. By launching in an advanced market like Germany, we were able to validate the concept and create a scalable model, with the potential to expand across the 50+ European markets where Mars operates
The Solution
We identified a clear challenge: Extra needed to celebrate the chill-enhancing power of chewing in a way that felt native to social and truly resonated with younger audiences. Our solution? Unexpected, culturally charged, and a little absurd: goats. We tapped into a powerful internet truth—goats are among the most iconic chewers online (with millions of posts under #GoatTok), making them the perfect embodiment of Extra’s message: the more you chew, the chiller you become. From this insight, we turned goats into the ultimate brand ambassadors on TikTok, the platform where this behavior already thrives. We transformed Extra’s TikTok presence into a full-fledged #GoatTok stan account, while collaborating with a herd of German content creators who fully embraced “goat mode”—chewing and chilling on a real farm. To bring the idea to life in an interactive way, we launched a live TikTok activation. Teens were invited to share what they were spiraling about in the comments; their worries were then written onto cabbage snacks and fed to a squad of laid-back Bavarian goats—who literally chewed those problems away in real time. By merging humor, participation, and platform-native behavior, we created an experience that made the emotional benefit of chewing tangible and shareable. The result: 29.4K live viewers, 2,587 comments, and over 10 million impressions—proving that when you tap into culture the right way, even the most unexpected idea can drive meaningful engagement.