J.M. Smucker is sending a “Munchie Mobile” on a road trip leading up to the unofficial holiday of cannabis on April 20 to promote Hostess brands like Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Donettes.
It is a departure from Hostess marketing in its pre-Smucker era, when its sweet baked goods were advertised largely with families and children in mind, using cartoons and characters like Twinkie the Kid. Smucker, which acquired Hostess for $4.6 billion in 2023, wants to revitalize sales of a storied yet dusty portfolio by connecting with a wider breadth of consumers.
“Hostess maybe wasn’t quite as relevant or had gotten a little tired from a brand standpoint,” said Smucker Chief Marketing Officer Gail Hollander, adding that Twinkie the Kid is alive but “taking a siesta.”
Part of the strategy includes moving Hostess closer to popular culture, including 4/20 celebrations, Hollander said.
The Munchie Mobile truck over the next few weeks will hand out free snacks outside cannabis dispensaries in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland and New Jersey every day at 4:20 p.m., eventually parking for six hours in Brooklyn, N.Y., on 4/20 itself.
Hostess’s Munchie Mobile is touring the East Coast in April. PHOTO: HOSTESS/J.M. SMUCKER
Hostess, a 106-year-old brand, faces both a swath of new and trendy competition and a potential decline in the American pursuit of snacking.
A clamor for snacks during the pandemic generated sales increases for the likes of Hershey and Mondelez International, which owns Oreo and Ritz. Smucker, known for its jams and jellies, made a play for the snack market with the Hostess acquisition, confident that the sweetness of Ho Hos and their baked siblings would complement its portfolio of frozen Uncrustables sandwiches and savory Jif peanut butter.
But shares of Smucker fell 8% on the day the deal was announced. Hostess had already been through two bankruptcies and cleanup jobs. Analysts raised their eyebrows over the $4.6 billion price tag, excluding debt, that had materialized as the result of a bidding war, and pondered whether the craving for snacks could continue.
Last month, shares of General Mills, Kraft Heinz, PepsiCo and Campbell’s fell as snack sales weakened and investor skepticism increased alongside the popularity of weight-loss drugs.
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