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Who knew eating your mascot on live TV could help drive sales. That’s precisely the gamble the marketing team behind Pop-Tarts took during a college football bowl game Thursday. Pop-Tarts, that family breakfast staple, was among the brands that recently split off from Kellogg’s as part of a new corporate entity called Kellanova. Kellanova sponsored this year’s Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando, which last year was named after sister brand Cheez-It, and has previously been known as the Blockbuster and Champs bowls. The branding effort appears to have paid off big time. The game, which ended with players eating the Pop-Tarts mascot, generated an astounding $12.1 million in media exposure, according to advertising and marketing agency, Apex Marketing Group.
That exposure was a lot less than Kellanova paid to be the Bowl’s title sponsor. Reportedly, the total sponsorship income for the bowl, including contributions from other companies, totaled just $2.06 million—meaning a tidy 6:1 return on investment for Kellanova.
Beyond the media exposure Kellanova received for the brand during the bowl itself, the company’s edible Pop-Tart, called Strawberry, continues to catch the internet’s attention.
The Pop-Tart, which was disconcertingly lowered into a toaster at halftime and then consumed as a post-game victory snack by the Kansas State Wildcats players, danced around the sidelines throughout the game, earning it a significant amount of sweet air time. Those moves also helped the mascot become a meme that reached people who didn’t even watch the game—reminiscent of the infamous death of Mr. Peanut in a Planters ad that ran during the 2020 Super Bowl.
And instead of the traditional Gatorade victory bath, Kansas State’s coach was covered in coolers full of Pop-Tarts to celebrate.
The cannibal-esque branding moment caps off a big year for the 60-year-old Pop-Tarts brand, which is more popular than ever. The breakfast pastry brought in $978 million in U.S. sales in 2022, according to Chicago-based research firm Circa and, by October of this year, had already topped $985 million.
The decision to sponsor the bowl was made to keep the brand top-of-mind for consumers—and clearly, it did the trick, if a post from “Dave” on X is any indication: “No dogs in this fight but my wife just said ‘the advertising worked now I want a Pop Tart’ lol.”
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