Two Hostess Kazbars with one partially eaten.
Submitted by Carmichael Lynch

Hostess Kazbars

Influencer Marketing

Carmichael Lynch launched Kazbars for Hostess through snacking influencers and earned media contacts, generating 1.2 billion consumer media impressions alongside broadcast coverage delivering 1.5 billion impressions.

1.2Bconsumer media impressions
1.5Bbroadcast impressions

Case in 60 seconds

Hostess needed a launch for Kazbars, a multi-layered, multi-textured candy-bar-inspired snack, which had to land with consumer media and with business media, two audiences the work addressed separately.

The campaign appears to turn on the product's layered construction being the story itself, because a candy-bar-inspired snack earns attention from snacking influencers through what it visibly is rather than through what it claims.

The organizing line was A Snack With Many Layers, which took the multi-layered, multi-textured build of Kazbars as the launch story rather than treating that build as a product detail.

Carmichael Lynch engaged snacking influencers and earned media contacts to carry the consumer launch, while a separate approach to business media secured broadcast coverage, so the two audiences were worked through different routes.

Carmichael Lynch reports 1.2 billion consumer media impressions from the influencer and earned media work, and 1.5 billion impressions from the broadcast coverage secured with business media.

Strategy Breakdown

Snacking consumers reached through snacking influencers and earned media contacts, alongside a business audience addressed separately through business media and the broadcast coverage that followed.
Based on the available evidence, a new bar enters snacking where the product itself is the only news, so the launch had to make the multi-layered, multi-textured build the reason for coverage.
The page casts Hostess as the client and Kazbars as its candy-bar-inspired snack, so the brand role reads as introducing a new format under the Hostess name, though the page does not describe how Kazbars sits against the rest of the range.
Based on the available evidence, the launch ran through snacking influencers and earned media contacts, which suggests audiences were expected to meet Kazbars through people and outlets they already follow rather than through the brand speaking directly.

Creative & Execution System

Partners

  • Carmichael Lynch

Results & Evidence

MetricValue
Consumer Media ImpressionsWe engaged snacking influencers and earned media contacts to generate 1.2 billion consumer media impressions.
Broadcast ImpressionsAnd for business media, we secured broadcast coverage that resulted in 1.5 billion impressions.

Why Carmichael Lynch's strategy worked

  1. 1

    Splitting a food launch into a consumer track and a business media track appears to let one product story carry two different news angles, which is how a single launch reaches both audiences.

  2. 2

    Product construction reads as a usable hook for snacking influencers, because a multi-layered, multi-textured bar gives a creator something visible to show rather than a claim to repeat.

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