The scalloped edge, it seems, has found a permanent seat at advertising's most expensive table.
Mondelēz International announced this week that its Ritz cracker brand will appear in the Super Bowl for the third consecutive year, a streak that would have seemed improbable not long ago for a product that spent most of its 90-year existence as a quietly reliable pantry staple rather than a star of the national spotlight.
The company is revealing little about the campaign itself, in keeping with the now-familiar ritual of pre-game secrecy that treats a 30-second commercial as though it were a military operation. Steven Saenen, who holds the title of category president for savory snacking at Mondelēz, told Adweek that the objective is to sustain momentum from the brand's 2023 debut in the game — its first Super Bowl appearance since, well, ever.
"The brand is perceived as more modern, more fun than it was two years ago," Mr. Saenen said, adding that market share gains have been "pretty strong" over that period. (One imagines the Ritz cracker, if it could speak, might express mild surprise at being described as fun.)
The return is part of a broader pattern in which legacy packaged-goods brands, long content to let their presence on grocery shelves speak for itself, have begun treating the Super Bowl as a kind of annual reintroduction to American consumers who might otherwise forget they exist. Ritz joins a growing roster of snack foods that have discovered the game's peculiar alchemy: pay $7 million for half a minute, and suddenly you are relevant again.
Whether the scalloped edge can sustain a fourth year remains to be seen. For now, the cracker abides.
Original story published in adweek.com: "Ritz Returns for Super Bowl 61 in a Play for Casual Snackers"