• by Larissa Faw , September 15, 2015

Volpi Foods has traditionally advertised its dry cured specialty meats by showcasing its history as an American-made brand since 1902. 

But now, the family-owned brand is chasing viral fame as it launches a surreal video series developed by Bob Camp, an Emmy Award-winning animator, cartoonist, comic book artist and producer best known for his work on "The Ren & Stimpy Show." 

Developed with production house Zero Point Zero, the "Into The Meat Cave" videos feature a white-coated man with an authoritarian sounding voice to "lull the viewer into a hypnotic state which helps impart the most meat knowledge." This “scientist” attempts to educate viewers about the differences between smoked and cured meats, how mold helps salami aging, and spotting various cuts of pig meat from afar." 

Stylistically, however, the videos are "wacky, trashy, postapocalyptic, vintage, awkwardly written rip off of the worst PSA’s ever, will make us all feel like kids again! And eat more Salami," says Rob Sheard, SVP of data and product at Zero Point Zero Production. 

“Our goal with this series is to connect the Volpi target consumer with the brand in a creative way that hadn’t been done before,” says Sheard. “In partnering with a creator like Bob Camp to craft the campaign, our goal was to connect the audience to information about products that didn’t feel like another boring advertisement or informational video.” 

Here is the link to the videos. 

Meat brought the two sides together. Camp is a longtime fan of the product and met Volpi's CMO Tim Urban to discuss a possible collaboration. The idea was to develop a series in the same vein as the previous work he has done.

The videos appear on the Volpi YouTube channel, as well as on social media channels and on Facebook. Other aspects of the marketing campaign include a robust new Web site, new packaging and advertising across multiple platforms, social media and a re-introduction line of products, as well as in-store events.