Ferrero puts $50m into 2027 sports marketing. Nutella gets its first Super Bowl ad

Ferrero North America said on 6 October that it will spend more than $50 million on sports marketing in 2027. The plan includes the first Super Bowl ad for Nutella and a new Kinder Bueno spot, both airing during the game on 14 February 2027.

Ferrero calls the $50 million its largest single marketing investment

The company described the budget as its “largest individual marketing investment to date”. It covers several brands in its portfolio, but the release does not split the money between brands or channels. No agencies were named.

Michael Lindsey, president and chief business officer of Ferrero North America, said the company is “in a position to double down on our investment”. Its US portfolio also includes Butterfinger, Keebler and Famous Amos.

Kinder Bueno’s first big game ad came with a 140% sales lift, Ferrero says

Ferrero bases the decision on its own data. It says Kinder Bueno’s debut in the big game lifted volume sales by 140% compared with the year before. The company has not published how it measured this.

Nutella has a second data point. In April a Nutella jar was spotted during the Artemis II space mission. Ferrero says searches for “Nutella” rose 60.7% year on year afterwards. Amazon unit sales ran 20.2% above the brand’s normal level between 6 April and 8 May. These are internal figures and Ferrero did not share the base numbers.

Nutella Peanut gets a national stage in its launch year

The Super Bowl slot comes soon after the launch of Nutella Peanut, the brand’s first new flavour in decades and its first product made in the US. Marketing Dive noted that Super Bowl LX drew 125.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen’s revised count. Big food and snack brands have been raising budgets this year, as shown by Nike’s 5% rise in marketing spend and M&M’s latest TV-led campaign.

The open question is cost per result. Ferrero has not said how much of the $50 million goes to the two Super Bowl ads. Its next update on sales after 14 February will show whether the 140% lift was repeatable.