Twinkies Relaunch as Dude Food

Expansion into other nontraditional sales channels

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For the recent relaunch of Twinkies, an iconic American snack that disappeared from shelves for eight months while the company switched hands and emerged from bankruptcy, Hostess has a new grown-up message: these cakes are dude food.

The company behind Twinkies and HoHos now has men in mind—specifically convenience-food-loving guys 18-35 years old.

Under “The sweetest comeback in the history of ever” tagline, Hostess flooded social media, prompted fans to make Vine videos, dispatched guerrilla street teams and food trucks to major markets, painted giant wallscapes and sent the cheesy Twinkie the Kid mascot on tour around the July 15 reappearance of the snacks.

The response came quickly.

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