Flipz – the chocolate-covered pretzel brand at the intersection of sweet and salty – entered 2025 with the goal to grow cultural relevance and expand consumption occasions. With low baseline awareness, recent retail delists, and limited shelf presence, the brand needed to re-establish its place in modern snacking culture and spark renewed consumer interest.
From that mandate came a strategic opportunity: cement Flipz’s place on the game day snack table. Snacking and sports are inseparable rituals, and Flipz's unique sweet-salty promise positioned the brand to bring families together during high-energy sports moments.
Rather than retreat from the clutter of one of the noisiest media windows of the year, Flipz saw game day as its stage. The NFL Playoffs and March Madness presented a powerful platform to reach consumers when snack choices matter most and competitors battle fiercely for relevance.
With this conviction, the campaign set out to elevate awareness and consideration by positioning Flipz as the ultimate game day snack. Equally important was deepening cultural connection by embedding the brand into high-visibility sports and entertainment moments. The brand aimed to reinforce distinctiveness by spotlighting the irresistible sweet-salty combination, while also driving retail impact to overcome distribution challenges and accelerate sales velocity.
Together, these goals created a roadmap not just to participate in cultural conversation, but to flip the script on what a snack brand can achieve during one of the most competitive, sports-driven seasons of the year — evolving Flipz from a nostalgic treat into a modern game day essential.
Before launch, Flipz conducted a baseline brand perception study among “Sports Snacking Families”—Millennial and Gen X parents who frequently snack and watch sports together. The research revealed both the challenge and the opportunity: awareness and cultural association with game day were low, yet these families were highly open to discovering new snacks when introduced through sports moments. Flipz’s sweet-salty profile stood out as a distinctive offering worth trying.
These insights shaped the campaign from the ground up. Rather than compete in a generic snacking landscape, Flipz would meet families in the moments that mattered most—NFL Playoffs and March Madness—and do so with credibility rooted in sports and pop culture. Cultural resonance became essential, informing a highly intentional selection of talent who embodied the idea of “Flipz the Script.”
Saquon Barkley brought authenticity and star power at the height of his Super Bowl visibility—and his own story flipped the script: joining the Eagles and entering a new chapter that reshaped the narrative around his career. Breland naturally personified the brand’s playful duality: a Grammy-winning artist whose genre-blending mix of country, hip-hop, and R&B mirrored how Flipz combines two unexpected elements—salty and sweet—to create something irresistibly new. Together, they helped demonstrate how Flipz doesn’t just show up in culture; it flips it.
Influencer and NIL partnerships extended this ethos across living rooms, brackets, and family sports rituals. These creators brought the brand into real fan experiences, showing how Flipz could flip the script on snacking during moments when families gather and celebrate.
The campaign was built on three pillars: driving cultural relevance through timely partnerships, fostering emotional connection via curated content and fan engagement, and reinforcing brand credibility by spotlighting Flipz’s sweet-and-salty promise. Timing was critical—activations pulsed during NFL Playoffs and March Madness, aligning the brand with the most relevant snacking moments for its core audience.
Execution came to life through a fully integrated ecosystem across earned media, influencer marketing, owned social, digital and in-store retail, digital out-of-home, and high-impact talent collaborations. Breland’s anthem served as the campaign’s unifying thread, driving storytelling across influencers and social by literally flipping the script with a genre-bending sound for Flipz. Saquon amplified visibility across sports and lifestyle conversations, generating cultural buzz tied to both his Super Bowl appearance and his headline-making move to Philadelphia.
Influencers brought the brand into everyday fan rituals through family-first, entertaining content, while NIL athletes connected Flipz directly to March Madness excitement. Owned channels sustained momentum with timely sports content, giveaways, and collaborative posts, while digital retail and robust shopper marketing converted cultural relevance into sales. Digital OOH further reinforced the brand’s presence.
Post-campaign measurement confirmed the approach worked: purchase consideration rose 47%, cultural relevance increased 46%, connection to sports/game-day culture grew 42%, and likelihood to recommend climbed 37%.
Together, these elements created a cohesive, 360-degree presence that elevated Flipz from a nostalgic treat into a modern game day essential—flipping the script on what a snack brand can achieve in one of the most competitive cultural environments of the year.
The campaign delivered measurable impact across every stage of the marketing funnel, turning cultural relevance into tangible gains in awareness, perception, and sales. Earned media secured 97 top-tier placements and generated 2.87 billion impressions, significantly elevating Flipz’s presence during one of the most competitive advertising windows of the year. Influencer partnerships added 16.3 million impressions across 134 posts, while owned social contributed 3.8 million impressions and more than 88,000 engagements, sustaining momentum across platforms.
Pre- and post-campaign studies among “Sports Snacking Families” confirmed strong brand health lifts. Purchase consideration rose 47%, cultural relevance increased 46%, connection to sports and game day culture grew 42%, and likelihood to recommend climbed 37%. These gains reflected not only heightened visibility but a meaningful shift in how consumers perceived Flipz within the sports and snacking landscape.
The campaign also made measurable progress against Flipz’s core challenge of low awareness. Household penetration grew +1.3 percentage points at the conclusion of the campaign (March 2025) versus the prior year. Top-of-mind awareness within the chocolate-covered salty snack category grew 1.6x year over year (Kantar Brand Health Tracker, July 2025).
Retail performance further underscored the impact. Flipz SKUs at Walmart saw accelerated velocity, and year-to-date sales outpaced both the chocolate category and the competitive set with 11% dollar growth (YTD, 1/1/2025–2/23/2025).
Together, these outcomes demonstrate that the campaign not only met—but exceeded—its objectives, firmly positioning Flipz as a culturally relevant, in-demand game day essential while driving measurable business results.
