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Copycaterpillars – Aldi's social media triumph

April 2021

Reading time: 4 minute(s).

Aldi rocketed to social media stardom this week following a legal dispute over the nation’s favourite celebratory chocolate cake.

We’ve taken a look at how this digital dispute broke out, some of the best tweets shared and how you can look to harness the power of social media for your organisation.

It’s also vital that we point out, at Strand PR, all caterpillars are of equal deliciousness and we do not favour one over the other. Although, if we were pushed, Cuthbert might possibly get our vote.

Had a pretty busy weekend ngl. #FreeCuthbert pic.twitter.com/Gqm5Xn6SH1

— Aldi Stores UK (@AldiUK) April 19, 2021

Bugs behind bars

No matter the occasion – birthdays, work promotions, random Tuesday evenings instead of actual dinner – Colin the Caterpillar, originally sold by Marks and Spencer in 1990, has been the nation’s go-to chocolate cake for over 30 years now.

While many saw the funny side when budget supermarket Aldi unveiled their own version of the cake, Cuthbert the Caterpillar, M&S’s legal team felt differently, lodging an intellectual property claim with the High Court. The multinational retailer claimed Cuthbert’s similarity to Colin led customers to believe the two cakes were of the same standard, accusing Aldi of riding “on the coat-tails” of M&S’s reputation.

Despite the serious claims that are being made against them, Aldi appears not to be taking the legal allegations particularly seriously, taking to Twitter with their own comical take on proceedings.

This is not just any court case, this is… #FreeCuthbert

— Aldi Stores UK (@AldiUK) April 15, 2021

The social media marketing team at Aldi followed that up by posting multiple tweets digging at M&S’ decision to take legal action.

Power of a hashtag

While #FreeCuthbert was busy going viral, there was a limited response from the M&S social team. Meanwhile, Curly, Clyde, Morris, Wiggles, Cecil, and Charlie all remained out of the spotlight, despite also having a strong resemblance to the famous Colin.

Aldi soon changed tact, utilising the bolstered attention by way of a ‘raising money for charity, not lawyers’ initiative under another hashtag, #Caterpillarsforcancer. Inspired.

With a surge of support and praise from fans and followers the likes of Waitrose, Asda and Morrisons were quick to throw their support behind Aldi’s campaign.

Marks & Snitches more like. #FreeCuthbert

— Aldi Stores UK (@AldiUK) April 16, 2021

This isn’t the first time that the Aldi social media team has used their platform to make light of potentially damaging press, with pub chain Brewdog previously drawing attention to similarities between respective beers that were being sold by the supermarket. Following a short-lived Twitter tiff, the two brands reconciled and subsequently announced a collaborative IPA together. This is, once again, showing the power of effective social media use for marketing teams to turn a potentially detrimental situation into a positive one.

So, what can we learn from Aldi here?

Understand your audience

How seriously can one take a dispute over a bug-inspired chocolate cake? Aldi hit the nail on the head by being able to equate humour with the circumstance at hand. With a character that was easily animated for social media, Aldi’s strong social media marketing team used gifs, memes, puns, animations, and a fantastic charity initiative capable of turning the narrative on its head, attracting thousands of fans, followers, and, ultimately, positive brand coverage.

From a marketing standpoint, even if your business isn’t a multinational corporation, the way your brand is portrayed on social media is essential to how the public perceives you. Understanding your audience on social media means that your tone, style, and approach must be in-keeping with your prospects, values, and industry.

Be consistent

Aldi’s persistent gifs, memes and clever, witty tweets and hashtags went viral immediately.

Thousands of retweets, likes, and shares later saw the debate swiftly spread to alternative platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, ultimately reaching headline status in the mainstream media

Consistent, organic engagement with an earned community online is an easy, low cost and effective way of revealing a business’ personality, increasing brand recognition and a positive reputation – so that when a potentially precarious situation comes about, you’ve got a sturdy foundation to communicate with followers and disputers about the issue.

Make genuine connections

When it comes down to it, the response from Aldi could have easily flopped if their efforts to rally their competitors in the industry were to fail. This is where friendly, professional human connections, as well as a positive, confident, and unproblematic outlook in crisis situations comes extremely handy in creating a lucrative image for your brand on social media.

Spark conversation

And, possibly most importantly of all, what about this story caught the public’s interest? A budget supermarket has poked fun at an upper-market retailer over some insect-inspired confectionary. It’s funny. It’s newsworthy. It makes for meme gold. Pair a clever social media marketing team with a genius PR charity initiative, and they’ve come out on top.

Some of our favourite tweets

Judge: Show us the evidence!
Us: What evidence?#FreeCuthbert pic.twitter.com/Qg94aY0YaN

— Aldi Stores UK (@AldiUK) April 16, 2021

Live from inside the courtroom. #FreeCuthbert pic.twitter.com/3gCk7Ex553

— Aldi Stores UK (@AldiUK) April 16, 2021

For help navigating social media for your brand

April 2021 | Adam Mclaughlan