Pop-Tarts Mascots Die Again From Trying Too Hard

1 hour ago7 min read

Back in 2023, Pop-Tarts pulled off a marketing play so wild it felt like a buzzer-beater three-pointer at the NBA Finals—they literally sacrificed a Strawberry Pop-Tart mascot during the Pop-Tarts Bowl and let the victorious Kansas State football team chow down on its remains. The move was weird, macabre, and absolutely genius, racking up a staggering 4 billion media impressions and driving parent company Kellanova to sell 21 million more Pop-Tarts in the eight weeks after the game than before it.It was the kind of Hail Mary that marketers dream about, a perfect alignment of brand audacity and cultural moment. Not content to just run the same play, the brand leveled up last year, trotting out three edible mascots and letting the game's MVP, Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht, choose which one got toasted and eaten—he went with Frosted Cinnamon Roll.Now, Pop-Tarts is announcing a full-court press for the next game on December 27th at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium, dramatically expanding the lineup to six edible mascots split into Team Sprinkles and Team Swirls, with fans voting online to decide which entire team gets sacrificed. It’s a significant escalation, doubling down on a gimmick that barely had time to breathe, and it feels a bit like a team that just won a championship immediately trading away its core players for a flashier, riskier super-team.Many viewers will undoubtedly be hyped for the increased carnage, but there's a real danger here of jumping the shark before the concept even had a chance to build a legacy. When I put this to the brand’s VP of marketing, Leslie Serro, she pushed back hard, framing the move not as an arms race but as an 'evolution,' driven by fans' 'insatiable appetite for the playful and unexpected.' And sure, she’s got a point—I’ll definitely be scrolling for clips on the 27th in that dead week between holidays. But the sheer scale of it all leaves a weird aftertaste, like binging on six pastries when one was perfectly satisfying.The core of the issue lies in mascot power. A 2021 whitepaper found that long-term campaigns with a character boost market share and profits more effectively than those without.Think about the greats: Tony the Tiger, born in 1952, or the Energizer Bunny, drumming since 1989. These are legacy players.Pop-Tarts was trying to build its own dynasty with the 'Agents of Crazy Good,' a squad of frosted characters introduced six months before the 2023 bowl game, which itself was a callback to doodle characters from the early 2000s. That’s a solid foundation.The original goal was smart, too: shift Pop-Tarts from a breakfast item to an all-day snack by leveraging college football's massive audience. Last year’s game drove nine times more share of voice than 20 other non-Kellanova bowls combined and resulted in the highest brand search in over 15 years on game day.The brand could have milked the single mascot sacrifice for a few seasons, letting the anticipation build slowly, methodically, like a well-paced playoff series. Instead, they've gone for a turbo-charged sequel.If it’s six mascots this year, what’s next? Ten? Twelve? A full-blown Bud Bowl-style game with two full squads of pastries? It’s a reflection of a broader, frantic brand culture where ideas are churned through at hyperspeed, never given the time to become truly iconic. To be clear, the initial idea was brilliant—finding white space in a saturated marketing landscape and creating a must-see event out of thin air, similar to FanDuel’s 'Kick of Destiny' Super Bowl spots that evolved from a single Gronkowski kick to a Manning brothers face-off.But by super-sizing the premise so quickly, Pop-Tarts risks burning out its own golden goose. With the brand's title sponsorship deal initially being a one-year affair followed by a two-year extension, there might be pressure to go big now.Serro was coy about future plans, only saying they 'love football. ' But if they play their cards right, these edible mascots could have a Tony the Tiger-level lifespan, showing up at state fairs, movie premieres, and the Super Bowl for decades.The people would, ahem, eat it up. For now, though, it feels like they're rushing a fast break when they should be running the offense.

#Pop-Tarts

#marketing strategy

#brand mascots

#advertising

#viral campaign

#food industry

#editorial picks news

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