What do you get when you cross Australia’s fastest-growing preserved tomato brand and no.1 in Italy, with the nation’s obsession with romance stories? Confessions of a Muttiholic: Saucy Stories.
Mutti and WiredCo.’s first-of-its-kind audio series turns real Mutti fan confessions into saucy short stories, narrated by some of Australia’s most famous voices who undergo an impassioned transformation, starting with Australia’s all-time leading goal scorer, soccer and Matildas’ superstar, Sam Kerr.
Now in its second year, Wired’s brandformance campaign extends Mutti’s ‘Confessions of a Muttiholic’ platform with the same insight that when Australians discover Mutti, they become obsessed with it. The 2025 launch surfaced thousands of genuine confessions, reinforcing proof of unwavering brand love: fans tattooing tins on their arms, brides making Mutti the centerpiece of their showers, and people who drink it as a pre-workout.
For year two, Mutti and WiredCo. explored that fan obsession and brand love, into culture’s fastest-moving spaces.
“Last year proved that Muttiholics aren’t just customers, they’re passionate, dedicated and incredibly loyal brand fans who have genuinely funny, authentic and entertaining stories to tell,” says Samantha Filocamo, Marketing Director at Mutti ANZ.
“For year two, we asked how we could hand the brand back to them. Romance stories have become Australia’s latest cultural obsession, so turning real confessions into saucy short stories, voiced by talent like Sam Kerr, lets us meet that obsession inside culture rather than interrupt it. It’s also about building a community around this — inviting our biggest fans in and celebrating the Mutti lovers who’ve made the brand what it is,” added Samantha.
“Nobody’s quite as passionate as the lovers in a romance novel. Except, perhaps, Muttiholics. So, it felt fitting that this year, Confessions of A Muttiholic got the full romantic story treatment. Three confessions, will become three romantic stories, voiced by three iconic Australian celebrities in a way you’ve never heard them before. It’s a saucy evolution of last year’s in-depth documentary series, dripping in star power.” says Joe Stuart, Creative Director at WiredCo.
The romance stories are written by award-winning Penguin Random House author Emma Mugglestone, with each one inspired by a real Muttiholic confession. Kicking things off is Sam Kerr in a way you’ve never seen or heard her before. She lends her voice to the story of an everyday Aussie whose devotion to Mutti saw her packing tins of Polpa into a suitcase for a romantic getaway — a love story that, fittingly, begins with a mutual love of pasta sauce.
“The crafting of this was so important to us all. We wanted to present something that was authentic to the real confession itself and to the romance genre, so we spent a lot of time looking for an experienced romance author who could treat this in the right way.
But the element of surprise was also key, we wanted to choose iconic talent that you wouldn’t expect to front romance stories and transform their delivery. We spent many months searching, discussing and meeting with multiple talent until we’d found the right ones who could be transformed with the help of our director, Lachie.” says Stuart.
Produced by Rabbit, with Lachlan Dickie directing, the launch is anchored by Kerr’s story which starts a five-month Brandformance campaign with new confessions feeding a growing library of episodes read by more celebrities, including a world-famous signer and Olympic gold-medalist, across the campaign.
To enhance the creative, WiredCo. developed a highly targeted earned media and creator strategy spearheaded by each of the three celebrities, kicking off with exclusive interviews with Sam and Channel 9’s TODAY Show together with NewsCorp which was syndicated across key mastheads. This was supported by a series of creator partnerships such as Michael Finch (live tonight), Sarah Todd (live on Friday 10th July), and Sarah Brown (live on Monday 13th July), with organic creator outreach to commence during the second phase of the campaign.
An integrated paid media strategy was also built around the occasions and channels where Australians get their romance story fix that will be activated all the way through the line to point of purchase.
“When you consider over 9 million Aussies listen to podcasts weekly, and the BookTok movement that has over 300M views, this gave the campaign lots of media connections points.” said Ollie Carthy, Head of Paid Media and Strategy at WiredCo.
“This meant weaving together a media narrative and ecosystem across audio and video streaming, social and radio alongside impactful OOH placements to contextually complement listening habits but also align with category entry points around mealtimes and inspiration.” Added Carthy.
But building that story over time didn’t mean sacrificing impact. “We wanted a big saucy moment, in environments that felt organic to the genre, so we launched with high impact placements across Spotify, TikTok and YouTube followed by a 60” roadblock across the Nova radio network during drivetime to deliver Sam Kerr’s saucy story to the nation.” says Carthy.
“We loved the challenge of taking what we started with Muttiholics last year and finding a fresh way to keep telling the story across paid, owned and earned. Saucy Stories is our way of celebrating Mutti fandom again in a playful, culturally relevant way. Next up, a world-famous singer and Olympic gold-medalist will follow during phase two of the campaign.” said Samantha Nunura, General Manager of Client Services and Business Operations at WiredCo.
To listen to Sam Kerr’s full Saucy Story, head to YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.
