Under blue skies in Manhattan’s Flatiron Plaza on Thursday, Sept. 12, an orange force baked its way into the morning commute as King’s Hawaiian, known for its rolls and breads, officially launched the Snack House Tour promoting its new Soft Pretzel Bites product and grand entrance into the snack category.
NFL legend and brand spokesperson Eli Manning manned a custom King’s Hawaiian pretzel cart in the plaza, dolling out free samples and shooting content. Parked behind him was a branded Ford F-250 pickup truck with a larger-than-life Soft Pretzel Bites package fabricated on a grassy base on the cab. It will be hitting the road over the next eight months, pulling the 24-foot-long Snack House trailer to high-profile consumer events, one-off activations and retail locations.
As far as sampling activations go, this one struck the right balance between efficiency and experience with welcome and exit moments, discoverable décor, and fun premiums.
At the orange front door to the Snack House a brand ambassador handed us a gold key to hang on to for later. We stepped inside and found ourselves in a Hawaiian-inspired living room, complete with a lit gas fireplace etched with the King’s logo, a vintage orange refrigerator in the kitchen area, a neon sign of the bites messaging, “Too good not to share,” and décor that pointed to the brand’s history and Hawaiian roots, from a framed photo of the founder’s first bakery location, to a clock displaying Hawaiian time. Samples lined the countertop, in addition to magnets depicting the product and tour messaging. On a shelf beyond sat a stack of books on “Game Day Food,” “Big Dips” and “Savor,” a nod to the versatility of the brand’s products.
Eli Manning hands out King’s Hawaiian Soft Pretzel Bites, the brand’s first-ever snack. (Photo: King’s Hawaiian)
In the next room, a game room, there was a dare-we-say cute pretzel bite bean bag chair that’ll be a photo moment on tour for sure, branded surf boards on the wall and the reason for that gold key: Below neon signage that invited us to “Ready, Snack, Play,” was a mounted unit with three locked aluminum Bites snack boxes. We inserted a key, and if it unlocked a box, we could win upgraded premiums, from sweatshirts to totes. Driving home the decidedly analog and tactile engagement with its Ohana vibes was a Pac-Man game. (Who could resist?)
We exited out the back door to a patio area with a swag station where brand ambassadors personalized totes with patches identifying each market and other product icons. There was also a printable photo activation with the iconic orange color backdrop and Hawaiian-inspired greenery, and a branded lounge in which to enjoy those samples featuring orange seating and orange umbrellas overhead.
And an interesting insight: The tour vehicles are designed to work in tandem or separately, with the truck and fabricated cab capable of stocking product for tight and quick sampling opportunities, and the trailer designed to be pulled in for bigger activations. And a detail we loved: The launch experience extended far beyond the footprint in Flatiron Plaza, as the brand collaborated with the city’s Street Vendor Project and hundreds of street cart vendors to switch out their iconic New York pretzels for King’s Hawaiian Soft Pretzel Bites for the day. Talk about extra bang for the bite.
The Snack House tour will hit 14 markets through June 2025, stopping at iconic events ranging from The Big E in New England to NFL games, NASCAR events, Super Bowl, the NCAA men’s tournament, and sites along the West Coast. Partners: Entertainment3Sixty (lead agency); Lime Media (vehicle builds)
Step Inside the King’s Hawaiian Snack House:
(Photo Gallery Credit: Event Marketer)
