- Source: Global Oreo Vault
The Global Oreo Vault was a 2020 publicity stunt by Nabisco in which the Oreo cookie recipe was stored in a concrete bunker nearby to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
History
In October 2020, Nabisco announced on social media that it had created a small concrete bunker in Svalbard, Norway, to preserve the Oreo recipe in the event that the 2018 VP1 asteroid impacted the Earth on November 2 or 3, 2020. However, astronomers noted that the asteroid was extremely unlikely to impact the earth. The image of the vault was based on the real life Svalbard Global Seed Vault, and its supposed coordinates (78°08'58.1"N, 16°01'59.7"E; satellite imagery from early 2021 shows no evidence of ground disturbance at the site - an actual structure is highly unlikely) were placed near the seed vault. The vault supposedly contained Oreos wrapped in Mylar, powdered milk and the recipe for Oreo cookies. The campaign was inspired by a tweet posted on October 3, 2020. The company uploaded a series of scripted parody videos about the vault to YouTube, and released social media content which built up to a mockumentary about the vault's creation. The stunt was created by the Oreo marketing team and advertising agencies 360i and The Community.
Awards
The campaign was nominated for and received several awards for advertisements and online content. It was nominated for a 2020 Clio Award, and 2021 Webby Award, and won a 2021 Muse Award, Shorty Award, and Cresta Award. The campaign also won Adweek's Reader's Choice bracket for marketing events of the year.