How Reddit Grew Its Ad Business, Bolstering IPO Hopes

While whiling away the hours on Call of Duty and other videogames, gamers love to chew on Kraft Singles. At least, that’s what research done by food giant Kraft Heinz implies. So to drive more sales of the individually wrapped pieces of processed cheese, Kraft Heinz targeted gaming interest groups on Reddit and launched an ad in the form of a discussion thread: “How to Keep Melty Cheese Off Of Your Gaming Keyboard.”

The ad, put up last August, received about 6,700 upvotes, or likes, and 1,500 comments. Kelsey Rice, senior brand manager for Kraft Heinz, said the response blew the company away. Kraft staffers were able to interact with people in the snarky comments section, trading quips laden with cheesy puns. Kraft has previously advertised Singles on Reddit using more-conventional ads, but the response to this format made staffers realize “they could be thinking differently” about future campaigns on the platform, Rice said.