Snack food manufacturer Wise Foods Inc. has debuted a new digital marketing campaign, called “Rock the Cheez,” which calls teens to create virtual bands online. The campaign is part of an effort to promote a new image of the Cheez Doodles brand.
The new Cheez Doodles, comes with a new mascot, called the “Cheez Dudes,” a rock group that was designed to acquire a wider audience. Cheez Doodles existing audience is generally Moms and eight- to 12-year-olds, but the brand is looking to expand to a teen audience as well.
“Wise is a heritage brand and one of the things that we wanted to do with Cheese Doodles was to break out of that thought a little bit and do something more new and exciting,” said Kevin Foltz, brand manager at Wise Foods. “So we created a new mascot for the brand, the Cheez Dude, that would help communicate this new personality.”
The campaign, which was created by digital marketing agency Zemoga, is centered around a virtual reality contest on the newly redesigned CheezDoodles.com. The brand is running a contest on the site that calls consumers to become fans of the Cheez Dudes and make their own virtual music videos on the Cheez Dudes stage. These videos can be shared with their friends via social networks and e-cards. The person who enters the coolest video will win various rock instruments.
“We wanted to have something that promoted engagement with the consumer sweepstakes so we decided to use augmented reality to create an interactive experience,” said Sven Larsen, CMO at Zemoga.
“The idea was to create a platform to talk to the current customer, as well as the new ones that we are trying to gain,” added Foltz.
This effort is Wise’s first use of viral and social marketing. In addition to the microsite, they have created a Facebook fan page and a Twitter account for the first time. Wise is running calls-to-action on the new packaging of Chez Doodles and on in-store signage to promote the contest. They are also sending e-mails to existing customers. The campaign begins on October 26 and runs through the end of the year.
