The Campaign Mechanics
Flora Food Group, the EUR 3.0 billion spreads-and-dairy-alternatives conglomerate behind I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!, is deploying an unconventional marketing vehicle to amplify a product reformulation: a self-help book attributed to TUBZ, the brand's tub-shaped mascot. "Lifting the Lid: The T.U.B.Z. Method for Unlocking Your Full Potential" went on sale September 22 on Amazon at $4.60 — a price point low enough to function as promotional literature — with a foreword from Fabio Lanzoni, the Italian model who appeared in the brand's television advertising during the 1990s.
The 70-plus-page title is structured around the T.U.B.Z. Method, a four-step self-improvement framework the book describes as having had its patent application rejected and resubmitted. The comedic framing is intentional: Gary Rizzo, Director of Marketing Excellence at Flora Food Group, said the creative concept was built to mirror the product's own evolution. "TUBZ took the reformulation personally — and as he worked on himself, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! evolved too," Rizzo said. "'Lifting the Lid' became the perfect, and admittedly unusual, way to tell that story."
The Reformulation Underneath
The book's commercial purpose is to draw consumer attention to substantive changes in the I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! product lineup. The reformulated spreads and stick products now deliver, per tablespoon serving, vitamins A, D, E, and B12, zero milligrams of cholesterol, and 10.0% to 20.0% of the recommended daily value of Omega-3 ALA depending on the product. The pitch positions the brand squarely against butter in the saturated-fat conversation — a competitive angle that has intensified as plant-based and reduced-fat spreads have fought to recover shelf position lost during butter's cultural resurgence of the past decade.
Flora Food Group posted net sales of approximately EUR 3.0 billion in 2025 across a portfolio that includes Flora, Country Crock, Becel+ProActiv, Rama, and Violife, sold in more than 100 countries. The I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! reformulation is a U.S.-market story for now, though the parent's scale and R&D infrastructure — including a proprietary Culinary Centre — give it the capability to iterate across geographies. For food retailers and category buyers, the campaign signals that Flora is investing in brand salience for the spread at a moment when the buttery spreads segment faces sustained pressure from butter price normalization and consumer skepticism toward processed alternatives.
What It Means for Trade Buyers
Branded content plays at low consumer price points — effectively paid media disguised as product — are not new in packaged foods, but the execution here is notable for its specificity. By anchoring the book to an existing brand character with 1990s nostalgia equity and recruiting Lanzoni, whose association with the brand is well-documented, Flora Food Group avoids building awareness from zero. The $4.60 retail price on Amazon also positions the book below the impulse-buy threshold for most consumers, lowering the barrier to trial as a brand touchpoint.
For foodservice operators and retail buyers evaluating the reformulated I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! lineup, the nutritional repositioning — emphasizing essential vitamins and reduced saturated fat — provides cleaner on-menu and shelf-tag language as health-forward labeling continues to influence consumer purchasing decisions in the spreads and fats aisle. The stunt book is the attention mechanism; the reformulation is the underlying commercial argument Flora Food Group is making to trade partners and shoppers alike.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
