“Oddly delicious”
Satan himself
is not as it seems..
Picture your favorite meal. Imagine the smell wafting in as it’s prepared in the kitchen, the aromas blending in the air in palpable delicacy. Imagine the the texture, the way it feels in your mouth. Salivating yet?
We’re guessing you too thought of clams. And now the incredible team at Cards Against Humanity has finally found a way to improve on their amazing taste and texture. We know you’ve been waiting.
The million dollar idea? Clam Flavored Mayo. But they didn’t stop there. To make it even more delicious, they’ve added playing cards inside (for that extra sharp taste).
These bundles of flavor and joy, based on the dish Clams Casino, were found on the shelves of Target, somehow passing FDA regulation in the process.
It’s daunting to take such a novel idea and get it from production through regulatory approval, and to store shelves. Perhaps you’ve never worked with food before. That’s where we come in.
We specialize in navigating even uncharted territory– so you can focus on more game-changing ideas.
A HARD SHELL
How did Ad Magic put together such a ridiculous idea? Who supplies, designs, and tastes, such a thing? You may be curious how one turns such a far-out concept into tangible reality.
CEO Shari Spiro says her first response to the request was, “I don’t know how this can be possible.” But ultimately, she didn’t flinch, believing perseverance is the key to pulling off these crazy projects:
“The more you throw against the wall, the more will stick,” says Shari. “That’s my approach. I called every single mayonnaise company in the country, and some outside. At the last minute, after literally everyone else had said no, I finally found a family owned company that agreed to do it.”
To develop the recipe, Shari and the Cards team then took a trip to a food company test kitchen, where they met with a professional chef. In close collaboration with the culinary team, they experimented with different options, sampling the flavors on potato chips until they were overstuffed. “I don’t think I needed dinner after that,” she quips.
How did Spiro feel about all that Clam-o-naise? “It’s actually really good.”
“The more you throw against the wall, the more will stick”
Shari Spiro, CEO
we developed for this campaign.
CLAMS AGAINST THE FDA
The involvement of edible items required careful and unique consideration for Ad Magic. Cards were packed in FDA-approved vacuum sealed containers, sent to the plant, and then shipped to the manufacturer in a way that couldn’t be contaminated. The product then had to be packed in a food safe facility.
The process required careful oversight from the team at Ad Magic and Spiro, who personally flew out to the facilities and tested the new manufacturers. They have since become go-to partners for the company.
A CLAM DUNK
The resulting offering is great example of Ad Magic’s all-encompassing production expertise, ranging all the way from printed products to edible absurdities, and all combinations of them in between.
Spiro says the hardest part of the process was finding reliable partners who could deliver in the shortest amount of time possible to meet the deadlines: “it takes time to learn the type of person you need to deal with.”
The only thing that’s stumped Shari so far? Playing cards in ramen. “Heat and pressure would destroy the cards,” she says.
Absent of defying the laws of nature, there’s truly no limit to the chaos: no matter how ridiculous, scandalous, or distasteful. If you’re (god forbid) someone with a similar idea, Ad Magic can do it with aplomb. In the words of Spiro: “It was impossible — we pulled off the impossible.”
“It takes time to learn the type of person you need to deal with”
Shari Spiro, CEO
