Hostess is wetting consumers’ appetites for the return of some of its most well-known treats with a huge comeback campaign that touts the arrival of the products on store shelves Monday.
The marketing comes nearly eight months after Hostess filed for bankruptcy, and Twinkies and other snack cakes disappeared from store shelves.
Now a giant billboard of a Twinkie is in Times Square, a new Hostess website featuring a countdown clock and a social media campaign that encourages people to share their love of Twinkies and other snack cakes such as CupCakes, Donettes donuts and Ding Dongs are getting snack customers ready for the snack cake ‘s return.
Hostess plans to welcome back Twinkies, CupCakes, and both frosted and chocolate Donettes under the tagline, “The Sweetest Comeback in the History of Ever.”
“We want people to know that it’s the same Hostess, but with a different attitude,” says Dave Lubeck, executive director for client services at Bernstein-Rein Advertising, which created the ad campaign. “It’s younger, more aggressive.”
Social media are a large part of that approach. The Hostess Facebook page, updated nearly every day in the past three weeks, has close to 440,000 likes. The site began to tease the return of the treats at the end of June with posts like, “We’re back online. And pretty soon we’ll be back in the snack aisle.”
Social media users are buzzing about the resurgence of the snack cakes:
–“THANK YOU LORD OF SUGAR! Twinkies to return to shelves July 15,” said Eric Alper, tweeting under @ThatEricAlper.
–“TWINKIES ARE COMING BACK JULY 15TH I REPEAT THE TWINKS ARE RETURNING,” tweeted Emily Coffman under @c0ffeemon.
–“Twinkies party at my house July 15th when they hit the shelves again,” tweeted Lindsay Beaver via @lindsaybeavs.
–@TheDCD: “So apparently Twinkies will be returning to store shelves on July 15th. Too bad you can’t place pre-orders… :)” tweeted Robert Workman via @TheDCD.
The company was subsequently bought by two private equity firms, Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo Global Management.
Walmart will be one of the first stores where you will be able to participate in “Twinkie Watch” with boxes available after midnight on Sunday night.
