In 2013, Hostess Brands, maker of snack cakes like Ho Hos, Ding Dongs and Twinkies, fell into bankruptcy and halted production of the Twinkie in November.
Dismayed Twinkie lovers took to social media to publicly mourn the loss of their favorite snack. Twinkies began selling on eBay at huge markup. A private equity firm, Apollo Global Management and C. Dean Metropoulos and Company, took notice of the interest in the brand and bought the Twinkie division from Hostess in March for $400 million.
Since then, the countdown has been on for the Twinkie’s return. Touting it as “the sweetest comeback in the history of ever,” Hostess has been engaging loyal consumers through traditional, social and guerrilla media. The Hostess website had a countdown clock, the Hostess Facebook page has more than 444k Likes and has been encouraging fans to take over their own Facebook with “I saved the Twinkie” profile photos. Last week in large cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, street teams handed out “Prepare Your Cake Face” T-shirts and “I saved the Twinkie” buttons. A Twinkie food truck tour is in the works.
G-Peeps will be preparing their Cake Face and chomping into some spongey, cakey goodness to celebrate the sweetest comeback in the history of ever. Have you picked up your box of Twinkies today?
