Mascot Talk: Sugar Bear's new look

Kettle 12's Mascot Talk, where you can read an examination and analysis of a mascot you may have forgotten about or never even heard of before! Tyler here.

This examination focuses on none other than Post's Golden Crisp cereal mascot and marketing forefront: Sugar Bear. This human-like, cheery mascot may seem like he has fallen by the wayside as an advertising tool and ended up simply as an animation on the supermarket shelf, but alas! As you'll soon see, Sugar Bear is alive and well. Very well.

Source: postfoods.com

It turns out that Post has begun marketing Sugar Bear in a whole new way, through new channels and to a whole new demographic. In the past, and when I was a child, the cereal's maker stuck to marketing to us kids, using Sugar Bear primarily to advertise on places like Nickelodeon and Disney. However, through doing some research on this sugary, casually-dressed mammal, it's safe to say that Sugar Bear has officially been re-branded.

It didn't take long for me to come across the Golden Crisp page on postfoods.com. The website features Sugar Bear, and provides links to Sugar Bear's fan page on Facebook. That's right, Facebook. You've come a long way since creating cheesy, jingle-laden commercials for your puffed wheat cereal, Post.

Source: postfoods.com

Sugar Bear's Facebook, in a nutshell, is marketing genius. The page utilizes a "college-aged" theme that the cereal has adapted; Sugar Bear posts funny memes about eating cereal, and often uploads pictures of himself hilariously photoshopped into various pictures. Post is certainly capitalizing on the humor appeals of advertising!

The strategy coming from this "new-aged" Sugar Bear might be in an attempt to recapture the young audience once addicted to sugary, primarily child-marketed cereal. After all, I don't think that children ages 5-11 would be prone to checking out the latest meme Sugar Bear has uploaded to "his" Facebook fan page.

It's safe to say that Sugar Bear, with his Golden Crisp cereal, has been re-branded in a way that I, at least, didn't see coming. I have to say, I'm impressed. But if the bear's Facebook and web page haven't proved his marketing awesomeness:

Check out this awesome Sugar Bear video!

 Pretty awesome, right? Go ahead, watch it again. You know you want to.

Steamin' Hashtag Analysis: #TailgateEverything

Hi Everybody! Kettle12 Tyler here.

Here at the Kettle12 blog as part of a mini-series, I'm going to take a look at a bunch of different hashtags offered by brands as (what we recognize as) a social media marketing tactic. Targeted and suggested hashtags on Twitter fascinate me for a couple of reasons:

1) When shaped and marketed correctly, they create an interesting discussion to follow, not only from a marketing standpoint but from an interested Twitter user standpoint.
and...
2) When shaped and marketed incorrectly, they're still fun to track and analyze, but they're also entertaining to follow and at times down right hilarious. Anyone remember the Starbucks Twitter disaster?

Today I decided to look at "#TailgateEverything", a hashtag offered by Southern fast food chain Bojangles'. Bo's is a chain non-existent in New York, but I think that a good number of northerners have traveled through the south and seen the likes of this KFC-like entity.

When searching through the discussion created by Bo's, whose Twitter feed broadcasts to around 7.5 thousand tweeps, I was impressed right off the bat. The tweets didn't have a discussion volume that was "chat room" level, but fans of the chain were certainly spreading the love. User @kedavis10_ humorously tweeted at Bojangles' asking if she can "tailgate the govt shutdown...#tailgateeverything" , while others mentioned their excitement for bringing Bo's fine foods to the parking lot of a local sporting event.

What really makes this suggested hashtag great is Bojangles' involvement in the chatter. The fast food chain keeps up with the #TailgateEverything tweets, tweeting things like:

 

Hats off to Bojangles'. Your efforts in social media marketing are paying off. Keep up the good work!

Sincerely, 
Tyler Blance and the Kettle12 Team