The leaves are changing. There’s a chill in the air. Every day gets dark a little earlier. And there’s a creamy dollop of Hellmann’s mayonnaise plopped in your coffee mug.
You know, football weather.
Long before rookie Will Levis was the Tennessee Titans’ quarterback of the future, he was the man who drank coffee with mayonnaise in it. Now he has the pleasure of being both. Back in August, Levis secured a lifetime endorsement deal with Hellmann’s, America’s biggest mayo brand, to be the condiment’s athletic spokesperson. Hellmann’s announced the partnership with a faux press conference, in which Levis proudly advocated on behalf of the Mayo Mocha, sipped his signature drink and even ate a mayo-topped muffin for good measure.
“It’s hard to articulate, but people love talking about him,” said Chris Symmes, director of marketing for Hellmann’s. “He has this charisma that I don’t think you see too often with athletes. He’s clearly very comfortable in front of a camera. He likes to have fun. He’s clearly a very gifted athlete. And people love talking about him. He does stuff that makes people want to talk about him.”
The story behind Will Levis’ lifetime mayonnaise endorsement
Levis had been on Hellmann’s radar as a potential spokesperson since his culinary quirk started going viral on social media when he was still in college at Kentucky. In addition to his coffee experiment, he also gained notoriety for eating bananas, peel and all. The stunts were what they were: stunts. He’s since said he doesn’t actually drink coffee with mayonnaise on the regular (he’s a one-cream, one-sugar guy), but he knows gimmicks attract attention and get people talking.
NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.
Brands salivate at the value of charismatic athletes who are game to get silly. Hellmann’s sent Levis a care package in February complete with a Letterman’s jacket and bucket hat to rep the brand as well as a panini maker and recipes. Still, in the process of preparing for the NFL draft with a cadre of aspiring quarterbacks, Levis said the care package provided him, Max Duggan, Clayton Tune and Dorian Thompson-Robinson roughly a week’s worth of meals.
Levis took to TikTok to thank Hellmann’s for the haul. Symmes’ courtship only intensified from there, culminating in the press conference ad in August.
“I think there’s always some doubts like ‘mayonnaise and coffee, it’s a little peculiar,’” Symmes said. “But that wasn’t really the intent. The key part of this was how Hellmann’s can be used as a versatile ingredient.”
Versatile for Will Levis, and for Nashville
Ahead of Levis’ NFL debut in October, Hellmann’s partnered with Humphrey’s Street, a nonprofit South Nashville coffee shop with two locations, to make the Mayo Mocha available to curious Titans fans with adventurous palates. Humphrey’s Street’s baristas competed to perfect the recipe, going through several rounds of drink creation and taste testing, before landing on a concoction that’s been described as having a brownie batter or chocolate ganache taste.
The drink was only supposed to be available from Oct. 25-31, but thanks to Levis’ four-touchdown debut; positive press for Humphrey’s Street’s business model of providing job training for teenagers in national outlets such as Axios and Buzzfeed; and customers actually liking the product, the Mayo Mocha has twice returned to menus.
“I personally wish we had done a blind taste test with customers so they didn’t know,” said Camille Cannada, senior director of development for Harvest Hands CDC, the nonprofit arm of Humphrey’s Street. “Because I don’t think they would’ve known.”
For enterprising roasters, Hellmann’s recipe for an at-home Mayo Mocha is simple to replicate:
- Pour 1 ¼ cups of hot milk into a bowl and whisk vigorously for 1-2 minutes until frothy.
- Pour two hot espresso shots into another bowl. Whisk in one tablespoon of Hellmann’s REAL mayonnaise and one tablespoon of chocolate or mocha flavored syrup until smooth and well-blended.
- Pour into a large coffee mug and top with frothed milk. If desired, add a sprinkle of cinnamon.
‘It Must Be The Mayo’
As part of his sponsorship deal, Levis gets a “lifetime supply” of Hellmann’s. The average consumer, Hellmann’s says, goes through three 30-ounce jars per year. Since Levis’ passion for the product outpaces the average consumer, Hellmann’s is starting him off with six jars per year and he can request more whenever he’s running low.
Levis says he’s already on his second shipment.
After Levis threw for 238 yards and four touchdowns in his NFL debut, Titans fans online started rallying together with the cry “it must be the mayo.” Symmes jokes that he didn’t coin the phrase but he supports the idea.
Hellmann’s can’t comment on whether there are more projects planned with Levis or how the partnership has helped sales or boosted their profile. But Symmes says the goal is to get people to use more mayonnaise, and targeting tailgaters and Super Bowl party hosts is part of the plan.
“As a marketer, it’s fantastic to have an athlete/celebrity that is game to do fun stuff,” Symmes said. “I think that was evident before he even joined the NFL or the Titans. So I think it gives us, as we think about what the future holds, I think it gives us a lot of freedom to think about ways to partner with him in the future. It’s fun to have different ideas floating around given his willingness to not take himself too seriously and also just have a good time with things.”
Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at[email protected]. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nickusss.
