Better-for-you jerky and meat stick maker Archer is tapping into consumers’ quest for protein with a new ad campaign that leans on the dichotomy between healthy eating and meat snacks – and doing so with a sense of humor.
While the idea of meat snacks – known for being packed with sodium, sugar and artificial ingredients – as a healthy option might seem contradictory, the category’s rise in popularity is boosting sales for Archer and health-conscious competitors like Chomps, Think Jerky and Lorissa’s Kitchen,
Archer keeping it real
Archer deftly packages its serious message about clean-ingredient meat snacks – grass-fed Beef Jerky, all-natural Turkey Jerky, Zero-Sugar Jerky and more – in a series of whimsical video ads it’s running on Hulu, Disney+ and social media platforms including TikTok, YouTube and Meta, according to Archer Co-founder and CEO Eugene Kang.
The “Stick to Real” ad campaign includes spots that send the message of “staying rooted in what’s real,” the company said in a press release. For example, one of the ads features a gender reveal party where a sports car does donuts to announce, “It’s a boy!”
“The campaign underscores Archer’s commitment to using only high-quality, real ingredients across its product portfolio of 100% grass-fed and grass-finished meat sticks and jerky,” the company said.
Kang said the campaign aims to provide certainty in a world of absurd and sometimes unbelievable situations.
“We’re in a world of inauthentic, weird, fake social media trends that buzz, so what do we stand for? And I think for us it was like, at the end of the day, we know that there are unreal moments, we know that there are unreal situations, but we’re always trying to ground in the realness of it, all right?” he said.
Archer expands along with industry growth
The ad campaign follows a year of phenomenal growth for Archer, which enjoyed 90% year-over-year sales growth in 2024. The meat stick segment performed particularly well for Archer, growing 187.4% in dollar sales.
“We project to be half a billion in revenue over the next 18 months. And, you know, frankly, we feel pretty good about that,” Kang said.
The growth is driving the company’s plans to open a second manufacturing facility in metro Los Angeles, located in Vernon, Calif., in October. The new facility will double the company’s output, Archer announced in May.
“This will improve the company’s flexibility and speed to market as well as provide synergies for training and development with Archer’s existing facility located in San Bernardino, Calif.,” the company said. “The Vernon plant will exclusively produce meat sticks, while the San Bernardino plant will continue to produce both jerky and meat sticks.”
The company also scored a major endorsement partner in April, when Archer was named the official meat snack of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Archer products now are sold at Dodger Stadium, and the partnership enables the company to offer samples to Dodgers fans throughout the season.
Kang attributes much of the company’s growth to attracting a new demographic of customers. “It’s clear that we are bringing in a whole new level of households, new segmentation into this category, and that’s why folks are projecting this category to go from $5 billion to $8 billion in the next four to five years,” Kang said.
Conagra, in its first annual Future of Snacking report released in late August, said dried meat snacks are the fastest-growing subcategory compared with three years ago. The category is riding the wave of popularity in protein-based foods, according to the report.