Adweek: MoonPie Finally Has a National Super Bowl Ad, But Only at Gas Stations
The snack cake brand and agency Tombras teamed up with GSTV
By David Cohen | Adweek
This year’s Super Bowl ad from MoonPie was a real gas because, other than Twitter, the only place where they can be viewed is the gas station.
Chattanooga Bakery’s snack cake brand teamed up with agency of record Tombras on the next step in its #TheBigThing campaign, bringing its Big Game ad to screens on fuel pumps at gas stations worldwide via GSTV.
MoonPie and Tombras kicked off #TheBigThing in 2018, publishing nine absurd scripts for television spots that they would have produced and aired if the budget permitted.
The brand and the agency took things one step further last year, actually filming spots, although they only ran online.
This year, they took #TheBigThing national, or at least to thousands of screens at gas stations nationally via GSTV, which said its video network reaches one out of three Americans every month at over 22,000 fuel retailers across the country.
The video had nearly 155,000 views at the time of this post, and MoonPie said that according to the USA Today Ad Meter, that total topped those of brands including Little Caesars, Verizon, Tide, Reese’s, Toyota, Snickers, Procter & Gamble, Porsche, Disney’s Mulan and Rocket Mortgage.
MoonPie added that it has tallied roughly 4.3 million organic impressions thus far, and it shared some positive reaction to its tweets.
Tombras president Dooley Tombras said in a release, “This would seem like a crazy idea for most brands, but it’s perfect for MoonPie because it’s an ‘Outta This World’ creative idea and media placement. Millions of consumers stop by gas station convenience stores on their way to parties or to stock up for their own gatherings. So, not only did we finally make a TV spot for MoonPie, but we did it while making sure we were in the right place at the right time with a spot worthy of advertising’s biggest day.”
Tombras chief creative officer Jeff Benjamin added, “Living in New York City for nine years where they have these baby gas stations, it had been a while since I’d been to a real, American fuel stop. The innovation that’s taken place fueled our thinking and made GSTV the perfect ‘Outta This World’ platform for our trilogy. What a fun way to keep this campaign running. I’m pumped.”
And GSTV president and CEO Sean McCaffrey said, “When Tombras approached us, we immediately realized their idea was a stroke of genius—and not just because of the spot’s creative vision. Brands today know that it’s increasingly difficult to find moments when consumer attention is truly focused, so with an unavoidably attention-grabbing spot and a media buy that leverages the full scale and capabilities of GSTV, it’s the perfect way to stand out.”
AgencySpy: MoonPie’s “Super Bowl” Ad Only Ran at Gas Stations
By: Minda Smiley | AgencySpy
In a move that couldn’t be more on brand, MoonPie got in on the Super Bowl action on Sunday by airing an ad of its own … exclusively at gas pumps across America.
To be fair, it’s a sound strategy. We assume the chocolatey marshmallow cakes are a staple at gas stations, and the ad clocks in at 80 seconds, giving patrons more than enough time to fill up their tanks and wonder what the hell they just watched.
Without further ado, here it is.
True MoonPie fans will know that this isn’t a one-off thing. The Chattanooga, Tenn.-based brand—best known for its wry tweets—has been having a bit of fun with what it refers to as #TheBigThing since 2018, when it tweeted out nine faux Super Bowl commercial scripts.
In typical MoonPie fashion, they were incredibly off the wall. Three of them were turned into actual ads the following year, all of which ran online.
This year, the brand took things a step further by elaborating on one of last year’s ads, which featured a “MoonPie Child” meeting its adoptive family. From what we can tell, MoonPie Child doesn’t appear to be enjoying life in suburbia—but hey, at least it got to enjoy its day in the sun on “hundreds of thousands” of fuel pump screens around the country.
The stunt was pulled off in partnership with full-service agency Tombras and GSTV, a network that specializes in video content at gas stations.
“When Tombras approached us, we immediately realized their idea was a stroke of genius—and not just because of the spot’s creative vision,” Sean McCaffrey, president and CEO at GSTV, said. “Brands today know it’s increasingly difficult to find moments when consumer attention is truly focused, so with an unavoidably attention-grabbing spot, and a media buy that leverages the full scale and capabilities of GSTV, it’s the perfect way to stand out.”
All of this begs the question: What will MoonPie do next? Maybe next year we’ll see a local Super Bowl buy, but even that seems too mainstream for its liking. Only time will tell.
Muse: See MoonPie's Twisted Super Bowl Ad, Which Ran at Gas Stations Across America
By: Tim Nudd | Muse
MoonPie and its agency, Tombras, have done lots of fun stuff around the Super Bowl in recent years.
Two years ago, they wrote nine absurd scripts for Super Bowl ads they would have aired, if they'd had the budget. Last year, they went ahead and shot three of those spots.
Now, for year three of what they're calling #TheBigThing, they've finally aired a national spot. Well, kind of. The 80-second spot ran nationwide Sunday at gas stations across America, catching viewers as they were picking up snacks for the game.
The ad features the family from last year's ad who welcomed a MoonPie child to their brood. In a nice meta touch, the spot itself takes place partly as a gas station:
Gas station screens don't normally host content nearly as fun as this. Tombras used GSTV's data-driven, national video network, which reaches one in three Americans monthly at more than 22,000 fuel retailers across the country.
"This would seem like a crazy idea for most brands, but it's perfect for MoonPie because it's an 'Outta This World' creative idea and media placement," says Dooley Tombras, president at Tombras. "Millions of consumers stop by gas station convenience stores on their way to parties or to stock up for their own gatherings. So not only did we finally make a TV spot for MoonPie, but we did it while making sure we were in the right place at the right time with a spot worthy of advertising's biggest day."
"Living in New York City for nine years, where they have these baby gas stations, it had been a while since I'd been to a real American fuel stop," adds Jeff Benjamin, chief creative officer at Tombras. "The innovation that's taken place fueled our thinking, and made GSTV the perfect 'Outta This World' platform for our trilogy. What a fun way to keep this campaign running. I'm pumped."
"When Tombras approached us, we immediately realized their idea was a stroke of genius—and not just because of the spot's creative vision," says Sean McCaffrey, president and CEO at GSTV. "Brands today know it's increasingly difficult to find moments when consumer attention is truly focused, so with an unavoidably attention-grabbing spot, and a media buy that leverages the full scale and capabilities of GSTV, it's the perfect way to stand out."
The spot also ran in social media, where MoonPie has a large and devoted audience. Check out last year's spot, "The Family," which was a kind of prequel to this year's.
Read the official release here!