Twinkies Is Going After A New Demographic - Bros
But as a part of its re-marketing efforts, Twinkies is trying to win over the hearts of one specific, untapped demographic: young males, better known as bros.
“We want to go beyond just the loyal fans to some of those people who should be fans,” Dave Lubeck, executive vice president at Hostess' ad agency Bernstein-Rien, told Time. “So we’re really trying to move beyond the grocery store consumers into the c-store [convenience store] target, which is a younger male."
Catering to the dayglow colored bro tank-wearing population makes sense for Hostess. American families are more health conscious than they were in Twinkies' heyday — "Howdy Doody" regularly plugged the snack, whereas today Disney went so far as to ban junk food ads on its network — so bros might be more likely to snatch Twinkies off the shelves.
But Hostess hopes to secure a place in lunch boxes, too. Lubeck continued to Time that “Moms shopping in grocery stores today speak the same language as their kids, so if we spoke more with that kind of attitude — the attitude that maybe you’d see in young males today — we think that we get both audiences.”
Hostess' first attempt to become fluent in "young male" talk began when it created a new slogan.
Last month Hostess told Business Insider it was officially retiring the classic "Hey, where's the cream filling?" tag line for "The Sweetest Comeback in the History of Ever." The new slogan's tone obviously hopes to reach an ironic, internet-friendly audience.
Hostess is also encouraging new, Twinkie-related memes on social media including a #comeback hashtag and a separate "Prepare your Cakeface" micro-site that asks for people to share their first Twinkie-bite on Instagram or Vine — with relevant #cakeface tagging, of course.
The site shows various bros in branded tank tops and sweatbands.