They say variety is the spice of life. And now, Dr Pepper is the spice of sausage.
Seriously. In March, sausage company Johnsonville launched a new product: a Dr Pepper-inspired sausage, available in both fresh and smoked, pre-cooked varieties.
“Disagreeing is important,” said Jamie Schmelzer, Vice President of Marketing at Johnsonville, “and it can be fun.”
The sausage brand set out to create an intentionally divisive product that would spark what Schmelzer called a playful, “low-stakes disagreement” as part of its larger goal of building community.
The Best of Times, the Wurst of Times
Johnsonville describes itself as a “hangout food brand” — as in, food that’s made to eat while socializing, like at block parties and tailgates.
Since 2023, the brand has worked with The Harris Poll to produce a report called the “National Temperature Check,” which, Schmelzer noted, is “the only legitimate political poll ever fielded by a sausage company.”
The latest results of the poll, though, weren’t quite so funny.
Seventy-three percent of respondents say they’re spending less time socializing than they used to — yet 76% believe getting out of their comfort zone is ultimately good for them, and 91% agree that good food makes socializing more fun.
Is a Dr Pepper-inspired sausage “good food”? That’s up for debate. But it is outside of Johnsonville’s and Dr Pepper’s comfort zones, which is by design. The brands teamed up to “set the example” for their customers, Schmelzer said, and show them what it looks like to try something unexpected.
How the Sausage Was Made
The idea was born during one of Johnsonville’s brainstorming sessions, Schmelzer said, and although it seemed strange, it also made some sense.
Dr Pepper has been used in meat marinades in the past, and it’s the No. 2 brand of soda in the country by sales.
Johnsonville is located in Sheboygan Falls, Wisc., and although it’s the top-selling sausage brand in the country, Schmelzer said, it gets “less famous as you kind of move in concentric rings from the chair I’m sitting in right now.” (As you may have guessed, he’s based near the company’s headquarters.)
Johnsonville hoped that the collab with Dr Pepper would help expand its mindshare across the country.
For its part, the soda brand was interested “almost immediately” after Johnsonville pitched the idea, Schmelzer said, but under one important condition: The product had to actually taste like Dr Pepper.
Born to Meme
After several rounds of testing, Dr Pepper approved the final product. Both the sausages and the campaign launched on March 1, mainly on social media along with a bit of TV advertising.
The idea of a Dr Pepper sausage is “built for the internet,” said Schmelzer. And how right he is.
The product proved as polarizing as intended, with responses on social ranging from “I need this right now” to “Sheboygan cannot be trusted.”
The collaboration is also intended to get younger consumers interested in Johnsonville’s products. Dr Pepper is already “very popular” among younger consumers, said Schmelzer, and Gen Z does a lot to “drive conversation and culture,” so getting them into the sausage category is crucial.
Most of Johnsonville’s customers are slightly older, between 30 and 54, according to Schmelzer. “Millennials are kind of the sausage bull’s-eye,” he said. (He really said that.)
But Johnsonville isn’t particular about who it reaches with this campaign. Rather than targeting specific segments, it’s casting a wide net across social, knowing that most of the people it reaches are likely to be Gen Z and millennials.
But “if somebody in their 60s wants to talk about this and drive conversation, we’re, of course, excited about that as well,” Schmelzer said.
At the end of the day, it’s about sparking conversation and creating human connections — and Johnsonville practices what it preaches.
By pushing the boundaries, it’s made some “new friends at Dr Pepper,” said Schmelzer, and the result was something “unexpected and fun and maybe delicious.”
Maybe.