The talking egg that dethroned Kylie Jenner with the most-liked post on Instagram was a project created by three British advertising executives -- who teamed with Hulu for a 30-second public-service announcement promoting mental-health awareness.
The Instagram World Record Egg on Friday teased a big reveal a following the Super Bowl, to debut exclusively on Hulu. In the spot, the egg literally cracks and collapses, ostensibly due to the stress of being Instagram-famous -- and then directs users to talkingegg.info, a site with links to mental-health organisations around the world.
"Recently I've started to crack. The pressure of social media is getting to me," the egg says in the spot, which also was posted on its Instagram account Monday. "If you're struggling too, talk to someone. We got this."
The egg, dubbed "Eugene," was created by London-based advertising executive Chris Godfrey, who was curious to see if a picture of an egg could become a social-media star. He then worked with two friends in the business, C.J. Brown and Alissa Khan-Whelan, to maintain the account, the trio told the New York Times.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Eugene now has more than 10 million followers, and the original post now has over 52 million likes.
How much Hulu paid the World Record Egg team wasn't revealed; the three proprietors of the account told the Times they're more interested in promoting positive social messages than cashing in on the egg's fame.
Hulu's deal with the World Record Egg creators was brokered by Nick Tran, a former Samsung executive who joined Hulu last year as VP of brand and culture marketing, according to the NYT report.
