All the Wacky Ways Snack Brands Have Grabbed Attention Lately

Admit it: When you're down to the last chip, you sometimes wish that Pringles can was a tiny bit bigger so you could grab every crumb. Well, the brand brought a supersize can to music festivals in summer 2023. The so-called Pringles Playground—which appeared at the Rolling Loud Miami and HARD Summer LA music festivals, and will pop up at the Life is Beautiful festival in Las Vegas later this month—was a collaboration with G7 Entertainment Marketing, which handled planning, fabrication, execution, and talent booking for the unique space. A highlight? Guests could mix their own music inside a giant Pringles can with help from Spinifex music mix technology.

Throughout the activation, festivalgoers could also win prizes, interact with musical artists, play games, and take a Spotify Connect quiz to find their ideal Pringles flavor.

In a fun touch, swings and other seating areas resembled oversize Pringles.

This month, Subway unveiled Subway in the Sky, a new dining experience on board a flying footlong. (Or, rather, a 180-foot-long blimp.) The vessel is designed with images of The Beast, one of the new subs Subway introduced in July that boasts a half pound of meat. Hanging from the blimp is a gondola that can accommodate up to six sandwich lovers per trip.

Subway in the Sky is traveling to various cities across the U.S. throughout September, including Kansas City, Atlanta, Orlando, and Miami. At least 40 guests per day will enjoy a truly unique meal on the blimp, which floats 1,000 feet above ground. (Feeling daring? Reservations can be made at register.subwayinthesky.com.)

In July, Frito-Lay Canada hosted the “Wild Wild Cheetle,” a wild-bucking Cheetos bull for fans to ride in Calgary. Located within a Frito-Lay Bullpen, the giant mechanical “bull” let fans take a ride before enjoying cheekily named snacks including the “Cheetos Was His Nameo” hot dog, the “Ruffles Cruncharoo” sandwich, and the “Yippe Ki Lay’s” doughnuts. How about those orange-tipped fingers? (Been there.)

Also at the bullpen was the giant Cheetle statue, a Cannes Lion-winning stunt that first debuted in Cheadle, Alberta, last year. Frito-Lay Canada worked with creative agency Motive on the activation.

Also in July, Miller High Life and Planters teamed up to create a dive bar located in the 26-foot-long Planters NUTmobile. The Nuttiest Dive Bar was a bookable bar in Milwaukee that featured a selfie wall inspired by retro photo booths; a drop ceiling littered with dollar bills; a nut-shaped jukebox; a warm nut machine; and all the Miller High Life you could drink, free of charge, plus themed bar games including cornhole. The bar was available to book for 90-minute time slots over four days.

Here's an oldie but a goodie: In 2015, GoGo squeeZ promoted its on-the-go applesauce pouches with a custom, interactive vending machine that launched its products into the air. Dubbed the "Goodness Machine," the structure resembled the brand's signature snack packet. Kids were invited to catch the flying packets by pushing a button on the machine, which activated a launching mechanism that shot out an applesauce packet from the top.

Kids caught the packets, which were attached to parachutes sporting the GoGo squeeZ label and activation tour hashtag, #CatchtheGoGo. The activation also incorporated a social media and video element, with a custom video recorder that recorded kids interacting with the machine. See more: See How a Brand Took Its Flying Snacks on Tour

No, that giant Cheez-It you may have seen on the highway to Joshua Tree in June wasn't a mirage. It was actually a clever promotion from the snack brand, which opened the retro Cheez-It Stop for a week in the Southern California desert. The tongue-in-cheek activation, which was conceived by Weber Shandwick with production by All Terrain, tied into the brand’s newest campaign—playfully named “Want It. Need It. Cheez-It.”—that highlighted the absurd lengths fans will go to fuel up on the snack.

The pop-up shop—which took over The Station, a renovated 1949 service station that can be rented for private events—was a throwback to nostalgic roadside gift shops. The aisles were lined with mementos and hard-to-find Cheez-It flavors available for purchase. Visitors could also shop exclusive merch and collectibles, or send postcards, to commemorate their visit to the cheesy attraction.

Outside, things got even weirder: Instead of gas pumps, the brand built what it called the “World’s First and Only Cheez-It Pump” that literally pumped a stream of Cheez-It bags right into visitors' car windows. Clearly, it's the alternative fuel source consumers need to keep them going on a long road trip! See more: Gas Prices Too High? This Service Station Pumps Cheez-Its Instead

To celebrate the return of OREO Cakesters, the brand decided to "rewind” to the mid-2000s in January 2022 with a playful takeover of the last Blockbuster store, located in Bend, Ore. The soft-baked snacks first launched in 2007, inspiring the nostalgic activation that included a co-branded exterior marquee. Digital production company Media.Monks handled execution and production.

Inside, free samples were presented in retro VHS-inspired packaging. OREO also collaborated with illustrators to design Cakesters-themed movie posters that spoofed popular genres and blanketed the walls of the Blockbuster store. See more: Why Brands Have Embraced Nostalgia Marketing

Häagen-Dazs’ “City Sweets” collection is inspired by iconic street-food desserts—think pretzels from street carts, churros, and black and white cookies. (Hungry yet?) So it was only appropriate that the brand celebrated the new flavors with a city-inspired activation: a colorful space that evoked a classic New York City bodega. Popping up in Brooklyn in April 2022, the immersive experience transformed a vacant convenience store into Rose and Reuben’s, a nod to the brand’s founders, Polish immigrants Reuben and Rose Mattus.

The entire space—including the products on the shelves and the posters on the walls—was customized and filled with Easter eggs about the brand, from flavor cues to fake business licenses attributed to the founders. To further tie into the new collection, the shop featured colorful artwork from Brooklyn-based artist Jade Purple Brown, who also designed the City Sweets packaging, and each aisle of the shop highlighted a different flavor.

In the back of the shop, though, was the real treat. What looked like a normal freezer door opened to a speakeasy-like space where guests could relax, listen to music, and, of course, taste the new flavors. Creative agency Cartwright worked with Unit9 to produce the activation. See more: Get the Scoop on How Häagen-Dazs Created a Speakeasy Inside a Freezer

During the pandemic, a popular trend from brands was hyperlocal, targeted experiential marketing that brought the event to the people by visiting an individual home or specific location. One fun example came from Hershey’s, which brought an actual door to select neighborhoods for trick-or-treating in October 2020. The robotic contraption delivered Reese's Peanut Butter Cups via remote control and Bluetooth for safe, socially distanced trick-or-treating. A post on the brand's Instagram account asked fans to weigh in on the door's next locations; almost 15,000 comments were received. The Reese’s Trick-or-Treat Door visited towns from Atlanta to, of course, Hershey, Pa.

We’ve all had days where we feel like we’re riding the “struggle bus”—and in those moments, is there anything that sounds better than pizza and a nap break? Well, Pizza Hut made that dream a reality for college students in 2022 by, quite literally, creating a "struggle bus." The eye-catching mobile activation aimed to be a literal interpretation of the term popularized by Gen Z and millennials to describe feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, or burnt out. It first popped up at the Final Four games in New Orleans April 2-3, before embarking on a monthlong mobile tour that culminated at the University of Georgia April 28-29.

Throughout the month, students could hop on board to enjoy lounge areas, beds for power napping, interactive selfie stations, a soothing pizza-inspired meditation, and, of course, plenty of Pizza Hut pizza. GSD&M served as the lead agency on the Pizza Hut Struggle Bus campaign, and Makeout was the production partner. See more: Pizza Hut Brings a Literal "Struggle Bus" to College Students During Exams Week

For back-to-school season in 2021, Lunchables took over FAO Schwarz in New York with larger-than-life builds, including a Cracker Stacker rocket ship and Pepperoni Pizza UFO. The snackable structures included a six-foot-tall Cracker Stacker rocket ship, a Kabobble Trojan Horse, and a Pepperoni Pizza UFO. To celebrate the takeover, Lunchables also created 30 limited-edition “Lunchabuilds” kits, which were available for purchase at faoschwarz.com.

To kick off its yearlong 75th anniversary campaign, M&M's celebrated the milestone with a media and consumer event that offered guests an inside look at the residences of the brand's six "Spokescandies": Red, Yellow, Ms. Green, Blue, Orange, and Ms. Brown. The event, which took place in March 2016 in New York, featured six rooms inspired by the personalities and the colors of the brand's Spokescandies, which have appeared in commercials and advertising campaigns. As the green-colored M&M is billed as having star quality and a fabulous, flirty demeanor, for example, the green room included eye-popping wallpaper, framed pictures of the character's fake magazine covers, and a green vanity with green makeup.

Inspired by the personality of the original M&M's "Spokescandy," the red room featured nostalgic touches including a Hardman, Peck & Company piano. Jack Morton Worldwide oversaw creative direction and strategy for the event. See more: Why M&M's Built a Color-Coordinated House of Candy