Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery was recently able to talk to Mark Chu, director of marketing, SkinnyPop (Amplify Brands), about its new "Whole Bag Kinda Night" marketing campaign, as well as some pandemic snacking trends.

Liz Parker: How did the “Whole Bag Kinda Night” campaign idea start? 

Mark Chu: The inspiration behind this campaign first came from social listening. We noticed that people were unabashedly posting about staying in with a bag of SkinnyPop already, but no one had put a name on it. And with that, “Whole Bag Kinda Night” was born. The declaration really felt like it needed to be sung at the top of your lungs. So, from there, we explored genres that matched this unapologetic energy and built out character personas based on real consumer need states that would help bring this idea to life. Having a shared apartment to yourself, canceling fancy dinner plans, locking yourself in the bathroom for some "me time" and shutting down Zoom all felt like sacred moments that only a whole bag of SkinnyPop could complement.

LP: How did the pandemic play into this campaign? 

MC: At the same time that our social listening showed more people unabashedly posting about staying in with a bag of SkinnyPop, the pandemic accelerated the growing trend of Americans staying in for New Year’s Eve versus going out—this year, only 24 percent of people planned to attend a public event or party. These insights served as a creative springboard for this campaign platform, representing a substantial pivot from SkinnyPop’s previous marketing efforts and inspiring our decision to drop the full 60-second music video on New Year’s Eve.  

LP: How did the pandemic impact SkinnyPop’s business and market strategy? 

MC: As the pandemic continues to influence consumers to spend more time at home, SkinnyPop’s positioning as a better-for-you snack, in which you can feel good about eating the “whole bag” of, has helped fuel our brand’s growth to three times the category rate year to date. We’ve continued to strategically lean into this unique product benefit as we expand into new channels, seasons and categories.

LP: Any newly released products? 

MC: Over the last year, we’ve seen explosive growth across packtypes as consumers seek out multiple sizes for different usage occasions. In line with these trends and our “Whole Bag Kinda Night” campaign strategy, we recently launched a new, larger 8-oz. Family Size offering to satisfy these varying need states and deliver consumers more value.   

LP: Any new products in the pipeline or marketing/branding ideas for 2022? 

MC: In 2022, SkinnyPop will continue evolving our positioning from an everyday, low-calorie popcorn to a snack that consumers absolutely love eating. We know people love downing large quantities of SkinnyPop, and we look forward to bringing consumers fun and exciting ways to do so via this new campaign, as well as limited-time offer flavors, social activations, public relations, influencer marketing, and retail programs.