The First Edible Mascot
Pop-Tarts (Kellanova)2023
The First Edible Mascot is a 2023 live stunt (college-football bowl sponsorship) for Pop-Tarts, created by Weber Shandwick.
Why it works
A sponsorship that ate its own mascot. To push Pop-Tarts beyond breakfast and into snacking, the brand put its name on a college-football bowl game and gave it what it billed as the first edible mascot: a giant, grinning strawberry Pop-Tart called Strawberry. After Kansas State beat NC State 28–19 at the inaugural Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando in December 2023, a giant edible pastry emerged from an even bigger toaster for the winning team to devour on the field; even the trophy had slots holding real Pop-Tarts. The Cannes jury's verdict: 'Bizarre. Weird. Genius. Uncomfortable.' Weber Shandwick reports more than 4 billion impressions, 15 times the brand mentions of ten rival bowl games combined, and 21 million more Pop-Tarts sold in the eight weeks after the game than before. It won the Brand Experience & Activation Grand Prix at Cannes 2024. It is studied as live sampling turned into a story: a modest bowl sponsorship that made the brand, not the game, the headline.
Techniques
- Mascots and characters Builds a bowl sponsorship around a giant grinning strawberry pastry character, which the winning team then eats on the field.
- Humour Leans into absurdity, with a pastry rising from a giant toaster to be devoured, a spectacle so strange the brand becomes the headline.
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