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Diving overview:
- Hostess has unveiled a revamped logo and packaging design in an effort to modernize the snack company’s identity, according to a press release.
- The maker of Ding Dongs and Twinkies is keeping its long-standing red heart icon, but updating the font to a punchier style and adding a cloud-shaped border around the logo, while also introducing a more vibrant color palette. The packaging also includes new photos of the baked snack.
- This is the first step in a major overhaul of Hostess, with an advertising campaign scheduled for 2025. This move follows the acquisition of JM Smucker Company last year.
Dive Insights:
Hostess joins a number of packaged food brands in response to changing consumer tastes and the interest of younger shoppers in the Gen Z and millennial age groups. JM Smucker, which acquired the baked snack marketer for about $5.6 billion last year, has been busy modernizing what executives previously called “dusty” brands, and Hostess is now part of a portfolio overhaul.
Aundrea Graver, marketing director at JM Smucker, said in a press statement that Hostess’s update was intended to emphasize that the company’s products are “made, not manufactured.” While products like Twinkies have developed an almost mythical aura around their shelf stability, Hostess’s new design aims to convey enjoyment while better emphasizing aspects of taste, quality and playfulness (playfulness achieved by adding a cloud motif). Let’s do it.
The refresh was tested multiple times, with results showing that consumers preferred the revamped packaging over the old packaging by a ratio of 2:1, due to improved perceptions of taste and modernity. The revised visual identity is just one of Hostess’ plans, with an advertising campaign launching in the new year. Hostess acknowledged its dedicated team and “industry-leading partners” in the update, but did not name individual agencies in the release. Publicis Groupe is JM Smucker’s principal creative agency.
Hostess’s fortunes have been turned upside down over the past decade since it filed for bankruptcy in 2012, a moment when it appeared the iconic brand could be gone forever. The business has taken advantage of growing US consumer demand for snacks to launch product innovations such as Kazbars and Ding Dongs, bite-sized Bouncers variants of Donettes and Twinkies, but has experienced sales pressure in recent months.
JM Smucker’s net sales increased 17% year-over-year to $2.3 billion in the company’s fiscal second quarter. Boosting Hostess is a top priority for marketers.
“Moving forward, we are focused on achieving our strategic priorities, including the integration of Hostess Brands, and are taking decisive steps to grow the Hostess brand,” President and CEO Mark Smucker said in an earnings statement. said.
