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Oreo Cakesters are back at a Blockbuster not near you

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By Webb Wright, NY Reporter

January 7, 2022 | 4 min read

Joining a broad-scale, pandemic-era marketing trend aimed at nostalgic appeal, Oreo has announced that Cakesters — a soft-baked cookie from 2007 — will be re-released for a limited time, kicking off with a commemorative event at the nation’s last remaining Blockbuster store.

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Oreo collaborated with the nation's last remaining Blockbuster store to commemorate the re-release of Cakesters

Oreo announced today that it will be launching a very limited re-release of Cakesters. The beloved soft-baked cookie was originally introduced in 2007 and then disappeared from shelves just five years later. It’s the latest attempt from a major food company to leverage nostalgia from past decades as a means of driving up sales.

To add some potency to the throwback, the cookie company has teamed up with Blockbuster – the all but extinct chain of video stores. The Cakesters re-release will take place at a single, somewhat isolated location: the last Blockbuster store in the United States, located in Bend, Oregon. Oreo has attached a giant “Cakesters” sign above the Bend Blockbuster, with a slogan attached beneath: “It’s 2007 all over again.”

“OREO loyalists have been asking and waiting patiently for Oreo Cakesters to return and we’re thrilled to celebrate this epic comeback,” Justin Parnell, vice president of marketing at Oreo,” said in a statement. “We hope the Blockbuster takeover will playfully bring store-goers back to 2007, when Cakesters first launched, and the soft-baked snacks became a fan-favorite.”

In addition to being the centerpiece of the commemorative event in Oregon, Oreo Cakesters also began to appear on the shelves across the country earlier this week. (If you’re craving a Cakester, you can click here to find a select retailer near you.)

Nostalgia for the 90s and early aughts has become a popular marketing trend since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a time period that has forced brands to develop new and innovative marketing strategies. Earlier this week, Pepsi announced the limited re-release of Crystal Pepsi, a short-lived clear cola that came onto the scene in 1992 and disappeared shortly thereafter. Dunkaroos — a less familiar name than Oreos, perhaps, but equally capable of evoking nostalgia in the hearts of many 90s kids — also reappeared on shelves in 2020, when the pandemic was still in its early stages.

The commemorative event celebrating the re-release of Cakesters was brought to life via handful of agencies: The Community (conception and execution), Media.Monks (execution and production), Landing Gear (production), 360i (organic social), VaynerMedia (paid media), Weber Shandwick (public relations), and HMT (sampling).

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