Dear new owners of Twinkie,
Are you really gonna eat all those Twinkies by yourself?
Yours drooly,
T.W. Inkie
Brand-Engagement: Repositioning the Twinkie.
I have two main ideas for the brand-engagment of Twinkie. While repositioning any brand has its difficulties, I think it is worthy to consider this option. To do this, I propose using one or both of the following new slogans: Remember Twinkies? and Don't Call it a Comeback.
Remember Twinkies?
This will appeal to a more nostalgic image of the Twinkie as an historic American snack food loved by kids and adults. As a result of the health-conscious trend, people now choose healthy snack bars, and have seemingly 'forgotten' about the twinkie. This new image hopefully will help remind consumers about twinkies, bringing them back to a time when snacks were fun and simple--just snacks.
Don't Call it a Comeback
My thinking with this image is to position the twinkie as a kind of 'badass' in the snack world. The twinkie never dissapeared, and the new owners aren't going to reinvent the twinkie, or change the recipe. This isn't some huge new concept of the Twinkie, it's just the Twinkie--as awesome and badass as ever. You know what people? Twinkies used to be the king of snack foods, and gosh darnit, they still are. Twinkie the Kid is still lassoin' bad guys and takin' names--and bein' eaten.
Television
"Remember Twinkies?"
Starts off with beginning riff of “All By Myself.” Little kid bent over in sandbox digging in overalls, Twinkie hanging out of back pocket falls out and is buried under sand. Cuts to back of school bus as it pulls up to school, 10ish year old kid grabs lunch box of seat in a hurry, and a Twinkie falls out and lands under seat next to a chewed piece of gum and an apple core. Cuts to an office building in a city. Outside the window is a single Twinkie, tilted, on the edge of a window-washers scaffold, camera pulls back and we can see both the Twinkie and a man/woman sitting at cubicle-type desk eating some kind of dull looking grain bar (replacement of Twinkie). Screen fades to black as text appears: “Remember Twinkies?”
"Don’t Call it a Comeback"
Set on streets of NYC or other such city, everything in black and white (LL Cool J’s ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’ playing…first verse only.) Twinkie (in color) moving down street wearing a hooded sweater and everyone it passes gives it a ‘what’s up’ nod, or points at it from across the street. Cuts to group gathered around a piece of cardboard with an old-school boom box and all you see is a guy break dancing for a few seconds and finishing with a pose. The camera pans down to the Twinkie just standing there for a second or two, and then the crown erupts in ‘ohhhhh.’ Screen fades to black as text appears: “Don’t Call it a Comeback.” (followed by image of Twinkie.
Print
"Remember Twinkies?"
- Twinkie standing on bench gazing out across the ocean
- Unwrapping the packaging of a non-descript snack bar with twinkie inside
- Twinkie in a stream of water on the street heading toward a gutter
"Don't Call it a Comeback"
- Twinkie in a boxing ring with all the fans behind it, facing off against a snack bar
- Scene from "300"--300 twinkies about to take on 10,000 other snack foods at the Hot Gates
- Twinkie in outerspace wearing a cape speeding toward earth's atmosphere
