United in Sport and Peanuts: The18 and NPB Showcase Peanuts in Soccer

By Lindsay Stevens

The National Peanut Board (NPB) continued their work with The18 for the fourth year. We know peanuts are a unifier: of athletes, of fans, of recipes and of ingredients. This year, we’re celebrating the universal love of peanuts and peanut butter to show how they play a pivotal role in an active lifestyle and how they can connect people.

Soccer Influencers — Frankie and Femi

Leading up to our larger activation, NPB and The18 worked with two different soccer influencers. Femi Awodesu is an American soccer player documenting what it takes to be a professional soccer player in the U.S. We partnered with Femi for two ads with the taglines “fueling soccer’s future phenoms” and “snack like the pros do.” Femi also posted two partnered social media posts and created Femi’s Peanut Butter Smoothie.

We also partnered with Frankie Flo, a professional soccer freestyler. Not only does Frankie compete as a soccer freestyler, but he is also training his young son to become a soccer pro. Frankie created two partnered social media posts and a recipe for Frankie’s Peanut Butter Sandwich. We also had two ads on The18’s website with Frankie using the taglines “a sweet snack for some sweet moves,” and “pairs well with fancy footwork.” Both Femi’s Peanut Butter Smoothie and Frankie’s recipe are on NPB’s website and the ads were used as direct links to them.

United in Sport

NPB and The18 also teamed up to showcase peanuts on the global stage during the 2024 Olympics. We worked with Cade Cowell, an up-and-coming soccer player set to be on the national team for the tournament in 2026, and Helen Maroulis, an American gold medalist in wrestling who won bronze at the latest games. This activation, aimed at players and fans alike, highlighted peanuts as both a fuel behind top athletes, and amazing ingredient in snacks to be enjoyed while watching the Games.

The athletes got together to make their perfect peanut butter smoothies. Cade’s Mr. Simple Smoothie and Helen’s Peanut Better Smoothie are both available on NPB’s website. After fueling up, the pair tried each other’s sports in a sport swap. When all was said and done, this activation produced three videos, three social posts each from Helen and Cade, three branded articles that live on The18’s website, multiple ads that lead to the recipes and two smoothie recipes that live on NPB’s website.

As of September 2024, the work with Frankie and Femi and our United in Sport campaign generated over 11 million impressions and 3.2 million content engagements. From advertising on The18’s website, NPB received over 80,000 clicks to our website. The results from this campaign show that our audience is seeing and engaging with our message that peanuts and peanut butter are great fuel for active people.