Dive Brief:

• MoonPie and SunChips, two snack brands with names drawing on celestial bodies, are ramping up separate marketing efforts around the total solar eclipse on April 8.  
• Chattanooga Bakery-owned MoonPie is running a social media campaign that pits the moon against the sun in a pro wrestling-inspired matchup. The marshmallow sandwich purveyor is also dropping Survival Kits in the form of blackout boxes that cater to eclipse viewing. 
• Frito-Lay’s SunChips will release a new flavor that is exclusively available for the duration of the solar eclipse. The Solar Eclipse Limited-Edition Pineapple Habanero and Black Bean Spicy Gouda is being promoted in partnership with astronaut and researcher Kellie Gerardi.

Dive Insight:

While attentions will turn skyward on April 8, marketers are trying to make the most of the weeks leading up to a highly anticipated astronomical event by releasing exclusive products and content that is either humorous or educational. The total solar eclipse occurring on April 8 will be the last of its kind visible from the contiguous U.S. until Aug. 23, 2044. 

Eclipses frequently stoke public excitement as people try to catch a glimpse of the celestial bodies overlapping, aided by protective glasses that guard against the sun’s rays. That level of hype has been amplified in the era of social media, where discussions around live events can blow up in real time. Around the solar eclipse in 2017, MoonPie made waves by taking a shot across the bow at rival Hostess on the platform then known as Twitter. 

MoonPie is taking advantage of social media again in 2024 by staging a WWE-like spoof between the moon and the sun, “a cosmic rematch billions of years in the making,” according to a press release. An ad for the “Sun vs. Moon ‘24: Brutality in the Totality” event takes cues from wrestling promos, with musclebound men taunting each other in the ring. The over-the-top teaser is briefly interrupted by an expert who tries to explain the specifics of the eclipse before he’s cut off by a bombastic announcer. 

The marshmallow sandwich marketer is also hawking survival kits that double as blackout boxes to aid with eclipse viewing. The limited-edition products, which come in chocolate, vanilla and banana flavors, will be sold at Dollar Tree, participating Walmart stores and a selection of grocers, along with at the brand’s website. 

MoonPie has been developing more colorful marketing with help from agency of record Tombras. The company late last year ran a campaign with ads targeted at extraterrestrials, capitalizing on interest in government hearings around UFOs. 

Meanwhile, SunChips is leaning into a scientific angle, collaborating with astronaut, researcher and parent Gerardi, whose work tries to make complex concepts easily digestible and fun. The brand has set up a website dedicated to the eclipse and is producing content for Instagram, TikTok, X and Facebook for the occasion. In addition, it will carve messages aimed at the moon in wheat fields that align along the path of totality.

The brevity of the astronomical event is also a factor in the Frito-Lay campaign. SunChips will sell its new themed chips for just 4 minutes and 27 seconds, or the totality of the solar eclipse, via SunChipsSolarEclipse.com while supplies last, in what it is billing as “the universe's most limited-time offer.”