Some might not want to admit it, but pre-packaged snacks are the best thing ever invented. They please all palates due to their wide range of flavors and types.
However, in a world full of options and evolving trends, food brands are fighting now more than ever to stay relevant among consumers. The challenging competition has encouraged them to find new ways to catch people's attention and keep them engaged.
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An emerging trend becoming more common across all markets is partnering with popular celebrities and creating enough buzz among fans to make the collaboration go viral on social media.
Related: Oreo launches new flavor in collaboration with a fan-favorite singer
Cheez-It is an expert at leveraging this strategy, since it's known for partnering with iconic reality TV stars such as Snooki from “Jersey Shore,” RuPaul from “RuPaul's Drag Race,” and Kordell Beckham from “Love Island US.”
Even fast-food giants like McDonald's (MCD) have launched celebrity meals, including the Angel Reese Special, the Travis Scott Meal, and the Taylor Swift Bestie Bundle, to name a few.
Nearly all of these food companies' efforts have successfully gone viral on social media, thanks to loyal fans who purchase anything with their favorite celebrity name on it and then post about it on all platforms.
Most recently, a popular cookie brand has partnered with a well-known actress and singer to create a limited-edition treat.
Image source: Robert Smith/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Oreo releases a new flavor with iconic celebrity
Oreo has teamed up with the actress and singer Selena Gomez to create the limited-edition Selena Gomez Oreo Cookies.
This new Oreo flavor features a layer of chocolate and cinnamon-flavored creme and a layer of sweetened condensed milk-flavored creme with cinnamon sugar, sandwiched between two chocolate-cinnamon-flavored Oreo cookies to create the ultimate sweet-and-spiced flavor combo.
The cookies were inspired by Selena's favorite drink, Horchata, a Latin American rice-, nut-, or coconut-based drink, mixed with cinnamon and sometimes dairy, depending on the region.
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The Oreos feature six unique engravings Selena chose with her fans in mind. The embossments include the word “Selenators,” which her fans call themselves, a pair of headphones, a burning heart, music notes, and a heart-shaped record.
There's also an exclusive cookie featuring Selena's signature, marking the first time Oreo has ever put an autograph on a cookie.
As part of the collaboration, Oreo and Selena Gomez are dropping an exclusive remix, and more details will be revealed soon.
The Selena Gomez Oreo Cookies will be available for presale nationwide on June 2 and will begin rolling out at U.S. retailers starting June 9. To give international fans the chance to try this new Oreo flavor, it will be available in Canada and Brazil starting June 9 and in Australia and New Zealand on June 17.
Oreo built on prior successful celebrity collab
Mondelez's (MDLZ) Oreo brand first entered the celebrity collaborations game in January by partnering with the American singer Post Malone to launch a limited-edition new cookie flavor inspired by him.
The cookie giant wanted to reflect Post Malone's musical genre evolution by creating a one-of-a-kind collaboration that mixed more flavors than ever before into a single cookie engraved with nine designs representing the singer.
This new Oreo consisted of two different swirl creme flavors, salted caramel, and shortbread, sandwiched between an Oreo chocolate cookie and an Oreo golden cookie.
The collaboration surpassed Oreo's expectations, since it went viral on TikTok with many Oreo lovers and Post Malone fans posting taste tests of the release.
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