NutsOnline Gets Social With Jericho Fans

If your favorite television show got cancelled, what would you do? See what else was on? Write a letter of protest?

Fans of CBS’s “Jericho” went nuts.

Or rather, they sent nuts. Over 20 tons of them.

Outraged by the network’s cancellation of the show, last spring fans of “Jericho” sent bags of peanuts to CBS in protest. The gesture was a reference to the show’s hero saying “nuts” before going into battle.

NutsOnline—where many fans ordered from—didn’t start the campaign. In fact, company CEO Jeffrey Braverman had never even seen one episode of “Jericho” when orders for CBS started trickling in. Quickly realizing something unusual was going on, he started communicating with fans via a blog and answering every e-mail from the show’s faithful, who saw the site as an friend in their cause.

Did all this nuttiness work? For the fans, definitely. “Jericho,” which is the story of a Kansas town in the aftermath of a nuclear Armageddon, returns with new episodes on Feb. 12.

But despite the 4,781 orders—totaling $54,968 and 40,377 pounds of peanuts—in the short term, the hoopla wasn’t a revenue generator. Rather, Braverman is banking that long term, the company’s support will generate good will and loyalty from fans who will remember the site when they have to send a gift. Pre-holidays, about 10% had gone on to become customers.

The site is keeping the social connection with fans alive, via the “Jericho” related blog, which is updated semi-regularly. Braverman had hoped that the show would return to the air before the holidays, so he could promote the site’s “Jericho Party Snacker” assortment as a gift. Still, he didn’t let the occasion pass without giving something to the faithful. To generate site traffic, NutsOnline created a “Jericho Peanut Assault Game” game, where fans can choose the identity of one of the show’s characters and shoot peanuts out of a cannon.

The site also runs another more general interest blog, “The Nutty Scoop,” which gives information about new products and fun stories of interest, such as NutsOnline’s new cart at the New Jersey Devil’s arena in the Prudential Center. The opening felt like home, since the building was built on the exact site of NutsOnline’s (a.k.a. Newark Nut Company’s) original store.