Silver
Branded Entertainment
Zeitgeist
| Entrant: | Weber Shandwick, Chicago |
| Brand: | Pop-Tarts |
| Title: | "The First Edible Mascot" |
| Corporate Name of Sponsoring Client: | Kellanova |
| Client Company: | Kellanova, Chicago |
| Client Company Vice President of Marketing, Portable Wholesome Snacks: | Sarah Reinecke |
| Client Company Senior Director, Marketing, Pop-Tarts: | Heidi Ray |
| Client Company Senior Marketing Manager, Pop-Tarts: | David Greci |
| Client Company Senior Director, Full Funnel Marketing, Pop-Tarts: | Jenny Lindquist |
| Client Company Associate Brand Manager, Pop-Tarts: | Alexander Sotiropoulis |
| Client Company Sr. Manager, Experience Planning, Pop-Tarts: | Katie Tangri |
| Media Company: | Starcom, Chicago |
| PR Company: | Weber Shandwick, Chicago |
| Agency: | Weber Shandwick, Chicago |
| Executive Creative Director: | Jeff Immel |
| Creative Director: | Burke Boggio-Hair |
| Associate Creative Directors: | Alex Manosalvas/Jerome (Nick) Drew |
| Art Directors: | Yasmine Nur/Nikki Méndez |
| Agency Brand Strategists: | Matthew Clay/Michelle Connolly |
| Agency Executive Vice President, Head of Kellanova Portfolio: | Kristin Petersen |
| Agency Senior Vice President, Communications Planning: | Jeffrey Spivock |
| Agency Client Experience: | Brian Gabriel/Callie Rapp/Grace Luepke/Carly Pearline/Jordyn Jones |
| Agency Earned Media: | Callie Rapp/Bridget Norris/Keara Clacko/Rebecca Jakush/Shae Feldman |
| Agency Director, Analytics & Insights: | Panqian (Theresa) Yang |
| Agency Project Manager: | Lizzi Jurenka |
| Digital Company: | Digitas SCS, Chicago |
| Production Companies: | Independents Graphic & Display/Chicago Mascots |
| Event Management Company: | Florida Citrus Sports, Orlando |
| Mascot Performer Company: | Fan Craft, Chicago |
Description:
How could we get Gen-Zers to talk about the brand and show everyone that Pop-Tarts is an entertaining snack for every occasion, leveraging the brand’s new college football bowl sponsorship?
Unfortunately, 2023 was not the ideal year to sponsor a bowl game. With more brands than ever becoming sponsors and the best players often opting out of the games, what used to be fun—brands sponsoring bowls—had become tired.
We had to overcome the fact that the games didn’t seem to matter to young fans. Our sponsorship had to become more interesting than the action on the field.
We created the world’s first edible mascot, a human-sized Frosted Strawberry Pop-Tarts pastry, and fed it to the winning team on the field of the Pop-Tarts Bowl, as a snack. While most brands turn their food into a mascot, we turned a mascot into food—changing the playbook for sports sponsorships in the process.