Peaners

We should’ve known better not to play with religion, but there’s one Jesus in particular we can’t seem to resist. Jorge Jesus, JJ, Mister, one of Portugal’s most emblematic football coaches (Benfica, Sporting), and overall walking meme. He was, and still is, very prone to craft his own vocabulary, creating new words, or just distorting others – in the funniest way possible.

In the press conference leading up to a game, Mister Jesus referred to something as being “peaners”, when he meant “peanuts” (as in really easy). The internet cracked up, once again, but we didn’t stop there. A few hours later, we created facebook and Instagram pages selling this new delicacy – “Peaners”, a delicious snack fit for champions.

We trademarked the name and logo, and started contacting suppliers. A few days later, a Peaners team was handing out peanut bags outside Benfica Stadium. Likes and shares kept pilling up, as the love and hate messages online (death threats included, that was fun). We gave interviews to several news outlet (always anonymously), and were contacted by several snack brands to turn our peanuts in a real product.

Eventually, with JJ’s move to Sporting, the novelty effect passed, and Peaners career in the snack world came to an end. But it sure was fun while it lasted :)