DON'T BE A SUGAR DADDY!

In partnership with

Hey Creative Souls,

Here’s the truth: people don’t change behavior because of stats. You can tell them sugar causes diabetes until you’re blue in the face, but numbers get tuned out. The bigger the crisis, the more abstract it feels. And sugar? It’s everywhere, hiding in foods people don’t even suspect. Invisible problems rarely get solved—unless you make them visible.

Seeing will always be believing. That’s why the ‘demo’ has been a staple of advertising since its early days. But if you think a ‘demo’ stops at scientists in lab coats, liquids in beakers and graphics of molecules, think again.

The Idea

Nas Grunt, with TBWA\Paris, pulled off one of the boldest demonstrations we’ve seen: they recruited bees. Why bees? Because bees can detect sugar levels over 15%. Feed them a hamburger, soup, or salad dressing—and they’ll turn it into honey. Suddenly, the hidden sugar in everyday food wasn’t a statistic—it was a jar on your table. “Hamburger Honey.” “Instant Soup Honey.” A joke that wasn’t funny at all.

Why It Worked

• Clever visualization: You can’t argue with a jar of “Barbecue Sauce Honey.” The demo made sugar impossible to ignore.

• Bravery in execution: There was risk. Some people thought the honey was real. But that tension is what made it powerful.

• Strategic framing: It wasn’t about selling products. It was about re-educating a country drowning in sugar.

• Impact that stuck: A 30% spike in website traffic, 10% rise in store visits, and most importantly, a national conversation that made sugar visible.

Learn from this investor’s $100m mistake

In 2010, a Grammy-winning artist passed on investing $200K in an emerging real estate disruptor. That stake could be worth $100+ million today.

One year later, another real estate disruptor, Zillow, went public. This time, everyday investors had regrets, missing pre-IPO gains.

Now, a new real estate innovator, Pacaso – founded by a former Zillow exec – is disrupting a $1.3T market. And unlike the others, you can invest in Pacaso as a private company.

Pacaso’s co-ownership model has generated $1B+ in luxury home sales and service fees, earned $110M+ in gross profits to date, and received backing from the same VCs behind Uber, Venmo, and eBay. They even reserved the Nasdaq ticker PCSO.

Invest for $2.90/Share

_{Paid advertisement for Pacaso’s Regulation A offering. Read the offering circular at invest.pacaso.com. Reserving a ticker symbol is not a guarantee that the company will go public. Listing on the NASDAQ is subject to approvals.}

The Takeaway

Rather than lecture, demonstrate. Don’t say, “Your soup has 18 grams of sugar.” Show it. Make it tangible. Make it absurd. Make it a jar of “Soup Honey” people can’t forget.

Great advertising doesn’t just tell the truth—it makes you taste it.

Figment is written by Abbhinav Kastura, a writer/producer who has spent a decade making impactful internet videos and Guru Nicketan, an advertising nerd, B2B Marketer, stand-up comedian, and a film buff.