food

Pretzel Crisps Jumps On Branded Video

Pretzel-CrispsSnack Factory’s Pretzel Crisps is making its first foray into branded video content with two different approaches from two different agencies.

One -- “One Snack” from GeniusRocket -- is 90 seconds in its full format on YouTube, and shows three women enjoying the flat pretzels in a variety of ways (plain, with healthy dips and veggies, etc.) as they go through their daily activities. In the vignettes, the women dance and sing to a hip-hop-inspired song (“There’s only one snack … Pretzel Crisps”) throughout. 

The other video – “Meet Carl, the Pretzel Crisp,” from Tongal -- introduces a new brand mascot, a talking flat pretzel who does card tricks and impressions of his friend Roger (among his other riffs) … working in along the way that Pretzel Crisps are the healthy snack food that can be enjoyed either alone or with accoutrements. 

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Both videos target Pretzel Crisps’ core consumer base -- women 25 to 49 -- and both, in addition to being offered in long versions on the brand’s YouTube channel, have been cut into shorter versions for pre-rolls on various targeted sites (particularly video-driven sites), Pretzel Crisp VP of marketing Perry Abbenante tells Marketing Daily

Both videos were launched around National Pretzel Day, April 26 (although “Carl” had a soft release on YouTube two weeks prior to its official release). 

The “One Snack” video on YouTube, posted on April 24, has thus far drawn nearly 2,400 views. The full “Meet Carl” video, posted April 11, has drawn more than 700 views, while the various shorter versions posted a week ago are starting to gain traction. (“Carl Trying to Lose His Accent” currently has about 400 views.)

In addition to being used in site display ads/pre-rolls, the videos are being promoted on the brand’s Facebook page (which currently has nearly 250,000 “likes”) and its Twitter account (more than 5,200 followers).

“We wanted entertaining branded video content that would help us build on our social and online communities, and also lend itself to conveying our brand message in both earned and purchased media, for cost efficiency purposes,” says Abbenante. “The two video crowdsourcing agencies each produced a very different, but very compelling, concept. So we’re employing both. The beauty of this content is that we can continually track how each video and each purchased ad unit is performing, and make changes very quickly as necessary.”

Pretzel Crisps also ran a “Got an App for That? Pretzel Crisps Appetizer Contest” prior to National Pretzel Day, when the winners were announced.

Starting March 19, entrants submitted recipes and photos to the Pretzel Crisps Facebook page in six categories (sweet, spicy, meat, veggie, cheese and bacon). An internal panel of judges chose 10 finalists per category to move onto the final voting stage. From April 12 to 23, the brand’s Facebook fans voted online for their favorite pairings. The six vote-determined winners received a year’s supply of Pretzel Crisps, a “Got An App For That?” recipe book featuring their creations, and $1,000. The winning recipes are being featured on the brand’s site and Facebook page. 

In addition, both channels featured a limited number of free, downloadable coupons around National Pretzel Day. 

Pretzel Crisps’ leveraging of digital marketing has been among the drivers of its continuing, strong sales growth. The brand’s dollar sales for the 52-week period ending March 18 were up by a whopping 95.7%, on top of a 66% gain during the 52-week period ended April 17.

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