Chicken of the Sea‘s latest campaign, featuring Jessica Simpson, is generating significant attention and sales, according to new data from Pixability, an AI-powered contextual targeting firm.

The campaign revisits Simpson’s infamous 2004 confusion about whether Chicken of the Sea was fish or fowl, which occurred during an episode of MTV’s “Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica.” The new ad shows Simpson explaining to her daughter that Chicken of the Sea is actually tuna, not chicken.

Pixability reports that the campaign, which launched on Instagram and then expanded to YouTube, has produced notable results. The ads have generated double the lift in consideration among the core target audience of women aged 35 to 44 compared to other demographics. Video completion rates are 66% above benchmarks, while click-through rates are 30% higher than average.

As NextTV reports, the campaign, developed in collaboration with media agency Ignited, focuses on reaching millennial pop-culture fans between 25 and 44 years old. YouTube received the majority of the campaign’s budget, with ads running on both Connected TV and YouTube Shorts.

The TikTok-like vertical YouTube Shorts format outperformed the traditional horizontal format on YouTube. This success aligns with the growing viewership of YouTube Shorts over the past two years and increased brand interest in short-form vertical ads on the platform.

Griffin Raasch, Chicken of the Sea’s marketing director, states that partnering with Simpson was “perfectly fitting” to announce their newest platform, leveraging her iconic moment from pop culture history.

David George, CEO of Pixability, notes that this campaign demonstrates the effectiveness of vertical short-form ad creative on YouTube, suggesting that advertisers can benefit from combining horizontal and vertical formats to drive engagement.

The campaign also utilized custom audiences based on search and website visit behavior, which Pixability reports contributed to the strong performance.