The complexities of fame

Korean canned tuna brand, Dongwon Tuna, is revelling in success after rapper Cardi B drew attention to its “spicy tuna” in a mukbang (eating) video on her Instagram Live stream. After saying it tasted “amazing,” the hashtag ‘#GochuTunaChallenge’ spread rapidly on social media, becoming a viral trend with many overseas consumers trying the canned product themselves.

According to The Maeil Business Newspaper, Dongwon F&B will begin full-scale sales of Dongwon Gochu (spicy) Tuna and Super Tuna on Amazon next month.*

Although spicy food and beverage challenges are nothing new (I’m reminded of the cinnamon challenge), the speed at which this video tuned consumers onto the canned tuna is impressive.

In the past few years, more brands have tried to viral than ever before. The Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds (where BAMA usually hosts its Innovation Day) successfully went viral last year and made the news for its 65-year-old military curator, Mark Murray-Flutter, using Gen-Z slang language to promote its exhibits.

More directly related to the metal packaging world, canned UK drinks brand LuvJus founders began a TikTok dating show to help market their vodka and gin-based “alcoholic craft pop,” as well as encourage IRL (in-real-life) connections. In fact, this show regularly comes up on my feed and is genuinely entertaining, sometimes featuring special celebrity cameos to maintain engagement.

Humour is one way to reach audiences, and unfortunately shock factor is another one, which is where the negative perception around cans can creep in. As CMI‘s Scott Breen mentioned at the IMDPA conference this year, some searches, especially on social media, can lead to misinformation about cans, particularly considering their hygiene. Any person can go viral, and fear mongering spreads quickly, particularly when users go “doom-scrolling.”

The popularity of podcasts has also caused trouble in this area recently, which was why it was interesting to read about China’s recently introduced regulations requiring podcasters and influencers to hold formal qualifications on the topics they speak about.* Not a bad idea!

In the B2B world, podcasts and YouTube videos make up the bulk of education available in visual or audio format; there understandably aren’t many can suppliers or can makers on Instagram or TikTok. But with consumer perception key to promoting canned food, beverages, aerosol and beauty products in metal packaging, the brands we do work with can help spread some of the positive communication for us, in both a fun and educational way.

In all the social media noise out there, it pays for consumers to be clearer about who to listen to.

If you’ve gone viral for a particular campaign, get in touch!

Next week, we will have a guest blog from editorial board member, Chris Saunders, so I shall thank him in advance and let you look forward to that. I’m off to enjoy some Halloween activities and book events.

Alex Rivers (she/her), CanTech International editor
Keep in touch via email: [email protected], LinkedIn: CanTech International magazine or X: @CanTechIntl