Meridian Foods, a palm oil-free nut butter brand, has launched an advertising campaign combining autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR), nut butter and Made In Chelsea’s Oliver Proudlock.

This is the company’s first promotional campaign since it unveiled its new brand identity in May, which it says reflects its lifelong obsession with the beauty of the natural world.

Peanut butter sales have seen a 35.5% increase during lockdown, overtaking jam as the UK’s favourite breakfast spread.

YouTube search interest for ASMR is now higher than search interest for meditation and yoga combined. By bringing together these two lockdown phenomena in its campaign, Meridian aims to deliver comfort to help people who are struggling with post-lockdown anxiety.

The campaign is running across influencer and social channels with a combined following of around 930,000. An ASMR full feature YouTube video exploring the sensual sounds of Meridian’s nut butter has already attracted more than 10,000 views, and an Instagram Live ASMR tutorial between WhisperAudios ASMR and Proudlock brought in more than 3,500 viewers last week.

Proudlock has also been using his new ASMR skills to run a series of Instagram stories over the past week. He commented that the tutorial was “the nichest thing [he’s] done for while” but that it was “a great excuse to tuck into a couple of jars of Meridian’s nut butters”.

Sue McIntosh, head of marketing at Meridian, said: “From the sound of the lid turning, to the feel of your spoon plunging in, and smacking your lips as you chomp away, eating nut butter is a multi-sensorial experience. We hope our ASMR video is a spoonful of comfort for everyone.”

The campaign is the brainchild of communications agency Don’t Cry Wolf.