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# Holy Crêpe! An Algorithm Created Seven Million Unique Nutella Jar Labels
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/holy-crepe-an-algorithm-created-seven-million-unique-nutella-jar-labels/
- Published: 2017-06-26T11:03:56.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:47:10.000Z
- Description: Ferrero recently partnered with advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather Italia to present Nutella Unica, an algorithm that created a series of unique labels for almost every Nutella jar in Italy.
- Author: Monica Uszerowicz
- Tags: In Brief, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:30(2016, 2017, part 3)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/06/11.png)

(images courtesy Ogilvy & Mather Italia)

Very little can be done to improve [Nutella](https://www.nutella.com/en/us?ref=hyperallergic.com): the chocolate hazelnut spread has amassed a cult following since 1946, when Pietro Ferrero, a pastry maker and obvious genius in Piedmont, Italy, [came up with the brilliant idea](https://www.nutella.com/en/uk/history?ref=hyperallergic.com) to combine hazelnuts and then-rare cocoa — back then, the spread was called Giandujot and came in the form of a loaf to be sliced and eaten with bread. Despite containing nearly 21 grams of sugar every two tablespoons, few people seem to have a problem making Nutella spread a part of an otherwise nutritious breakfast. (I ate spoonfuls of it as an after-school snack, then promptly took a nap.)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/06/nutella_unica_ig_v2.png)

(images courtesy Ogilvy & Mather Italia)

Nutella’s manufacturer, Ferrero, recently partnered with advertising agency [Ogilvy & Mather Italia](http://www.ogilvy.it/homepage.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) to make Nutella even more endearing and its consumption more exciting by presenting Nutella Unica, an algorithm designed to create a series of unique labels for (almost) every Nutella jar in Italy. The algorithm pulls from a database of dozens of patterns and colors to create seven million different versions of the Nutella label — pink and green, striped and polka-dotted, Pop Art-inspired and minimal.

Each Nutella Unica color combination includes a unique ID code, authenticating every jar as a limited-edition collector’s item — Ogilvy & Mather Italia has likened the Nutella Unica jar to a “piece of art.” Advertising for Nutella Unica compares the individuality of each jar to the people of Italy themselves (there are about 60 million people in Italy, so about 11% of them can get a jar all their own — actually quite a feat). When these exceptionally delicious artworks hit shelves in Italy in February 2017, they sold out in barely a month. Can you imagine the shopping possibilities — buying multiples, or maybe trying to find an attractive pair?

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/06/8.png)

(images courtesy Ogilvy & Mather Italia)

Nutella Unica will eventually make its way to France, and the company has plans to create more limited-edition jars. They’re all very adorable, but I am happy these data-driven, algorithmically designed products haven’t made it to the States yet. Everyone knows that rare collectors’ items are for *collecting* and admiring, not eating.