Pop-Tarts’ Edible Mascot Campaign Shows Value of Activation Strategy

Pop-Tarts’ Edible Mascot Campaign Shows Value of Activation Strategy

Bowl Season’s biggest star was arguably not a player, coach, or coordinator. It was Pop-Tarts’ edible mascot at the eponymous Pop-Tarts Bowl. 

The game, which featured countless cutaways and references to the delectable mascot, was the most watched postseason matchup through Dec. 30. 4.3 million fans tuned in to see Kansas State defeat North Carolina State–and observe as the winning team consumed Strawberry. 

Pop-Tart’s antics leading up to, during, and after the game were also a hit on social media. According to Zoomph, between December 3, ‘23 and January 1, ‘24 posts from the Bowl game’s official account generated 28.6 million views across X, Instagram, and Facebook, the most of any postseason game. 

The bowl game sponsorship/activation resulted in Pop-Tarts’ largest earned media campaign ever, and the company recently announced the Pop-Tarts Bowl would return in ’24. After all, the pastry product comes in “packs of two”.  

“What Pop-Tarts did was very smart,” Tony Ponturo (CEO, Ponturo Management Group) said. “It used the Bowl [game] to try to be relevant and contemporary to its entry-level consumer.”

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While Pop-Tarts is a 60+ year old brand, its target consumer is primarily millennials, young adults, and teens. 

The company has built irreverent marketing campaigns around newly created “agents of crazy good” characters leveraging humor to target this audience. Pop-Tarts needed to find a platform that would enable the company to engage passionate fans across multiple activation channels that embodied this ethos. 

Bowl games fans fit the profile of Pop-Tarts’ target demographics given that college students and recent alumni makeup a big portion of the audience. However, the abundance of postseason matchups meant the pastry brand would have to find a unique way to activate the sponsorship. 

“There are [40 plus] bowls,” Ponturo said. “If you asked people to name any of the bowl games except for the last three or four then that’s a difficult challenge.”

Constant partner turnover can hurt with brand recognition as well. The Pop Tarts Bowl was previously known as the Cheez-It Bowl, Camping World Bowl, Russell Athletic Bowl, Champs Sports Bowl, and a handful of other names.

Pop-Tarts developed a well-thought-out activation plan to ensure its game stood out. In addition to the end of game celebration cited, the company hired former Chicago Bulls’ Benny the Bull performer Barry Anderson to serve as the live mascot at the venue. 

Anderson was visibly active throughout the game, and even gave the head referee a seemingly ‘unscripted’ pat on the bottom in another moment that went viral. 

One of the most talked about moments from the game was when the live mascot was lowered into a garage-sized toaster before an edible version of itself emerged and was devoured by the Wildcats at the conclusion of the trophy celebration.

“Pop-Tarts executed a really strong strategy in its first year as the title sponsor of the Pop-Tarts Bowl,” Harry Poole (VP, brand marketing, Excel Sports Management) said. “A title sponsorship always comes with significant brand visibility through association with the event, but for a brand as well-known and established as Pop-Tarts, logo slaps alone weren’t going to make that sponsorship a touchdown. Instead, they rightly recognized the title sponsorship as a gateway to something much bigger and executed the most successful activation of bowl season.”

Activations are often an overlooked part of partnerships. But as Poole explained, it’s challenging for most brands to maximize ROI in a sports property without embracing the in-person. 

“A partnership without activation is akin to buying a car and deciding not to fill it up with gas,” he said. “While rights and benefits acquired in a deal set the table for success, in most cases, assets are not going to activate themselves.” 

Duke’s Mayonnaise is another consumable product that has found success with bowl sponsorship. A single Twitter / X post showing featuring highlights of the 2023 game  has over 100 thousand views and hundreds of engagement. 

And like the Pop-Tarts, Duke’s has also taken a humor and curiosity centric approach to game activation. The Duke’s Mayo Bowl has made a tradition of dumping a barrel of company product over the winning coach’s head.

Sports is a copycat industry. So, it’s likely just a matter of time before some other consumable products begin exploring bowl sponsorship. 

“Once they see someone else take risk and see its pretty smart companies’ CEOs ask why don’t we do something like that,” Ponturo said. “It creates dialogue with other advertisers to consider what they do and be more impactful.”

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About The Author: Adam Grossman founded Block Six Analytics. He is also a professor at Northwestern University Master’s In Sports Administration program and the co-author of The Sports Strategist: Developing Leaders for a High-Performance Industry. You can find him at [email protected].