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Peanut Chews Returns to Roots in Ad Campaign

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Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews were purchased nine years ago by Just Born. The candy was created in 1917 as a ration during World War I. The candy premiered a new label in 2004 that changed the color, the logo and removed the word Goldenberg’s from it. Sales of the candy dropped drastically after the wrapper was changed. Robert Zender, brand manager for Peanut Chews, said, “we lost probably half of our sales volume in our core markets.”

The candy bar was so unrecognizable that a customer who walked into a convenience store in the Bronx said that the store was selling counterfeit Peanut Chews. Then, while in Philadelphia, Zender asked a worker at a concession stand for the candy and was told, “Oh, they don’t make them anymore, honey.”

Goldenberg’s is now back on the wrapper, which looks very much like the original wrapper, and a new ad campaign is helping the candy bar get back on its feet across the country. There are new commercials hitting the television channels that show marketers speaking with consumers about the candy bar. Each commercial ends with a spokesperson for the candy bar, looking a lot like Billy Dee Williams, saying the candy bar’s tagline, “Now that’s chewin’ it old school.”

The television commercials were produced by Machinery and ran sparingly from January to April. On September 10, the television spots will run at the rate of four times the rate they ran early in 2012. They will also appear on the internet. At the start of the baseball season, the candy bar became a sponsor of the Philadelphia Phillies. Ads at the stadium used tagline such as “The only chew a player needs.”

Machinery is co-owned by Ken Cills, who is also the co-creative director at the company. Cills said the goal of the ads was to be as ‘original and authentic’ as possible but “those are marketing words, and the way we spun it out is, ‘You’re old school.’ ”

According to Peanut Chews, revenue has increased by 50 percent for the 24 weeks that ended on June 10 compared to the same time in the previous year. The company did not release any figures but did say that when the fiscal year ended in June, it had the highest revenue in history for the brand. When the brand was sold to Just Born in 2003, total revenue sales per year hit $15 million. With the current brand, 60 percent of sales occur in Philadelphia and 30 percent in New York. The remaining sales come from online and in stores such as Cracker Barrel and Rite Aid.

Peanut Chews Returns to Roots in Ad Campaign by
Authored by: Harrison Barnes