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Entrant: Weber Shandwick, Chicago
Brand: Pop-Tarts
Title: "The First Edible Mascot"
Corporate Name of 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:
Pop-Tarts is an American breakfast icon. But to grow the brand and reach a new audience, we needed to break into a new occasion—moving from breakfast to snack.

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.