Nutella Thanks Its Biggest Fan, Founder of World Nutella Day, by Sending Her a Cease and Desist That’s nuts!
By David Griner
Most brand marketers can only dream of having a superfan who organizes a global holiday dedicated to their product. And then there’s Nutella. The chocolate-hazelnut spread’s parent company, Italy-based Ferrero has sent a cease-and-desist letter to World Nutella Day founder and organizer Sara Rosso. This Saturday, she plans to deactivate NutellaDay.com and the 7-year-old event’s social-media channels in response to the legal notice from the company. “I’ve seen the event grow from a few hundred food bloggers posting recipes to thousands of people tweeting about it, pinning recipes on Pinterest, and posting their own contributions on Facebook,” Rosso writes in a blog post about the cease and desist. “There have been songs sung about it, short films created for it, poems written for it, recipes tested for it, and photos taken for it. The cease-and-desist letter was a bit of a surprise and a disappointment, as over the years I’ve had contact and positive experiences with several employees of Ferrero, SpA, and with their public relations and brand strategy consultants.”