Pop-Tarts is looking to build off of last year's bowl game buzz with more mascots, including a mystery mascot.
Pop-Tarts is bringing three edible mascots to its 2024 college football bowl game in a bid to recapture the buzz from last season’s stunt.
The three mascots, representing hot fudge sundae, wild berry and a mystery flavor, will be on the sidelines for the Dec. 28 Pop-Tarts Bowl at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. ABC will air the game.
The three mascots will compete to be the snack eaten by the winning team and “ascend to ‘mouth heaven’,” Pop-Tarts owner Kellanova said in a press release. It’s not yet clear how the mascots will compete.
The mystery flavor is a discontinued fan-favorite that will be brought back to grocery store shelves. Fans can guess the flavor online at PopTarts.com/Bowl. The mystery mascot flavor will be announced in the coming weeks on Pop-Tarts’ social media channels.
Pop-Tarts set a high bar with last year’s live toasting of its “edible mascot.” A frosted strawberry Pop-Tart mascot was lowered into a giant toaster while holding the sign, “Dreams really do come true.” A giant edible version slid out of the toaster and was eaten by the winning team. The idea, from Weber Shandwick, won the Cannes’ Brand Experience & Activation Grand Prix. Weber is also the agency of record behind this year’s edible mascots. Last year’s stunt went viral, giving Kellanova significant earned media attention for the first year of its sponsorship of the bowl game. Given that success, it’s no surprise that Kellanova is leaning into the mascot shtick again.
Read more: Kellanova is one of Ad Age’s Marketers of the Year
This year, customers can buy limited-edition Pop-Tarts packs, with each pastry featuring images that commemorate the best moments from the 2023 Pop-Tarts Bowl, including the frosted strawberry mascot stunt.
Pop-Tarts is keeping last year’s edible mascot relevant by printing images of the strawberry mascot on Pop-Tarts.
“The first Pop-Tarts Bowl became one of the year's biggest memes, and since then, our Edible Mascot has popped up on red carpets, TV commercials, sold-out Halloween costumes, and it continues to get brought up during big cultural moments. And fans are hungry for more,” Heidi Ray, senior director of marketing at Pop-Tarts, said in a statement. “Pop-Tarts will continue to challenge college football rituals, and with all eyes on us at this year's game, we're promising to triple the Crazy Good antics on- and off-field with even more shareworthy, showstopping, I-can't-believe-they-did-that moments for fans to engage pre-kickoff.”
