[ad_1]
Dorothy “Dot” Lyon, a diminutive Midwestern housewife with military-grade survival skills, substitutes buttermilk for water in her Bisquick biscuits, adding “love and joy” as additional ingredients.
The result is a fluffy carb so delicious and comforting that it staves off a revenge killing and tames an immortal Welsh-Scandinavian hitman. The day—and the home-cooked family dinner—is saved.
To those who didn’t watch season five of Fargo—a cult favorite thriller on FX and Hulu that starred Juno Temple, Jon Hamm and Jennifer Jason Leigh—this might sound like gibberish. But to the faithful, it’s now part of the twisted lore of the Noah Hawley-created anthology that used Bisquick as a key plot point in the show’s recent finale.
Taking advantage of that unpaid placement, Bisquick and agency Pereira O’Dell launched a Fargo-inspired campaign and limited-time product drop, aiming to superserve the loyalists and build buzz around the legacy Betty Crocker brand.
If you know, you know
Fewer than 100 boxes of Bisqick—labeled “a very special recipe” and decorated with Dot’s kitchen apron design—went on sale early this week at a single supermarket in Scandia, Minn., Dot’s adopted hometown where the drama was set.
“This may feel extremely niche, but that’s because it is,” Jason Apaliski, executive creative director at Pereira O’Dell, told ADWEEK. “Tapping into that intense [audience] love, even if it’s because we got lucky, was an opportunity we couldn’t miss. This collaboration is dedicated to the Fargo fandom.”
The stunt spawned a subreddit discussion, local news coverage and a near sellout on the first day. Social media extensions will give away some additional boxes to those who couldn’t make it to the rural town with a population of less than 4,000, about 25 miles outside St. Paul.
