Here’s how Chips Ahoy! will get Gen Z to bite on its 60th anniversary
Spoiler alert: the plan involves a free ride on a Chips Ahoy! branded yacht, limited-edition streetwear drops and a mascot makeover.
Two lucky winners and four guests will board the Chips Ahoy! yacht in Miami this summer / Credit: Chips Ahoy
Chips Ahoy!, a cookie brand baked by Mondelez subsidiary Nabisco, turns 60 this year. However, this cookie has no plans to go stale.
Rather, to celebrate this milestone, the brand has already unveiled video game appearances and streetwear merch drops, and it's also given away a summer vacation in Miami on a Chips Ahoy! branded yacht in order to remain fresh and relevant with younger generations.
“While we’re an iconic 60-year-old brand, we’re always looking for ways to modernize the brand and deliver on ever-changing consumer needs,” says Tanya Berman, senior vice-president of the biscuit category at Mondelez. “We also want to make sure we are always delivering on our brand mission – ‘Chips Ahoy! is here for happy’ – in relevant and authentic ways.”
Central to Chips Ahoy!’s anniversary celebration was an activation unlike any other the brand has ever done: giving consumers a free summer vacation aboard a Chips Ahoy! branded yacht. The sweepstakes, which closed in March, is giving away a three-day yacht trip in Miami this summer to two winners and four guests.
Winners will enjoy a birthday party, replete with cookie-shaped floaties and an on-site DJ, and be served ice cream sandwiches and espresso martinis. As part of the campaign, the brand also released ‘Happiest Birthday’ merch last month designed by popular streetwear designer Vandy the Pink.
The activation marked the brand’s biggest sweepstakes program in its history, resulting in 1bn earned media impressions and over half a million sweepstakes entries.
Chips Ahoy’s marketing recipe for Gen Z
According to Berman, the Chips Ahoy! brand has evolved significantly in order to resonate with Gen Z’s unique passion points as well as dramatically pivot its media spending. Not only has it cut all of its linear TV spending in order to lean into social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter, but the demographic’s love of brand activations and experiential marketing led the team to ideate and develop its yacht sweepstakes.
What’s more, a 2021 Deloitte study found that Gen Z’s #1 hobby is gaming. This inspired a Chips Ahoy! branded Twitch tournament last year with virtual basketball league NBA2K. During the game, Berman said, the brand “showed up ... with swag.“
In addition to last month’s Vandy the Pink activation, Chips Ahoy! has done other limited merch drops on livestream video shopping app NTWRK, such as its Chips Ahoy! sneakers drop with celebrity cobbler The Shoe Surgeon. “Our partnership with NTRWK ... has enabled us to tap into cultural influencers such as Vandy The Pink, to create custom, branded merch, which has also performed phenomenally well for us with Gen Z,“ adds Berman.
To further reach Gen Z, Chips Ahoy! has revived and modernized its mascot “Chip,“ a walking, talking chocolate chip cookie. Described by the brand as a “loveable optimist,” Chip was brought back in 2020 after a six-year-long hiatus with a new look, placing his eyes and mouth flat on the cookie rather than on his side.
As for Chips Ahoy!’s packaging, Berman says the brand has something cooking as well. Updated packaging will hit shelves next year, which will modernize the look and feel of the product while staying true to its logo and blue coloring.