Cheez-It Aged By Audio

It's one thing to use music to drive an advertising campaign. It’s another to use music to change the advertised product at a molecular level. Studio Resonate, Pandora, and Leo Burnett did both, leaning into psychoacoustics and microbiology to help create “Aged By Audio” for Cheez-It, a campaign where music was used in both the creation and the marketing of a unique snack. We designed a scientific process that allowed us to “sonically age” cheese with hip-hop music, producing a cheese that was noticeably different in aroma, flavor, and finish. Our hip-hop infused cheese was used to create limited edition boxes of Cheez-It, sold on a microsite with an accompanying playlist, and launched with the help of rapper/radio personality Sway Calloway. We smashed previous earned media and social influencer stats, amplifying the story about our tasty blend of sound science and sound art and selling out of the limited-edition boxes of the hip-hop infused Cheez-It in a matter of weeks - though rumor has it that you can still buy a box or two for $150 on eBay. In the end, our “Aged By Audio” campaign gave hip-hop fans a chance to hear, and taste, the music with a truly first-of-its-kind snack.