Pringles brings back ‘Once You Pop’ tagline to meet Gen Z’s tastes

• Pringles is dusting off its “Once You Pop, The Fun Don’t Stop” tagline made famous within the ‘90s while updating the concept for Gen Z snackers, according to news shared with Marketing Dive.   
• The phrasing has been adjusted to “Once You Pop, The Pop Don’t Stop” while recent ads highlight flavors like a dill pickle variant. The first spot, “The Duck King,” sees a person on a park bench who’s coaxed into making “duck lips” with a pair chips, which leads a flock of geese to swarm the bench and crown him avian royalty.  
• The Kellanova-owned brand is playing into Gen Z’s humorousness while underscoring its “flavor forward roots,” which could appeal to an age group known for its adventurous snacking tastes. CPG marketers broadly are embracing nostalgia as they give the impression of being to create emotional resonance with older customers while winning over recent ones who’re key to future growth. 

Pringles is updating certainly one of its most-recognized taglines with a Gen Z twist, a part of a wave of packaged foods marketing that lays the nostalgia on thick. In the case of “Once You Pop,” 69% of surveyed consumers were still acquainted with the decades-old phrase, lending the creative built-in brand equity, according to Ipsos data cited within the press release. Pringles previously retired the “Once You Pop” messaging in 2022 in favor of “Mind Popping.”

While the unique “Once You Pop” commercials today read as peak ‘90s cheese, showing kids browsing around on giant chips and accompanied by rap songs in regards to the joy of eating Pringles, the trendy revamp as a substitute leans into oddball humor. “The Duck King” references an actual snacking behavior — wedging two Pringles chips together to form “duck lips” in a single’s mouth — and takes the concept to the intense as a flock of geese swarms a person on a date within the park and flies away with the bench as he embraces his position of bird royalty. The geese then serve up their recent king Dill Pickle Pringles at his request, a briny flavor the brand revived last yr in response to fan demand and the recognition of pickle-flavored snacks on TikTok.

Agency of record FCB wanted to emphasize a functional aspect of Pringles while drawing out the brand’s playful side and taking things to “an unhinged place that mirrors Gen Z’s feed,” said Dan Kelly, executive creative director of the Interpublic Group agency’s New York branch, in a press release. FCB won the Pringles account last yr, replacing WPP’s Grey.

The campaign is receiving additional support from agency partners Weber Shandwick, Starcom and CIEN+ while Thomas Ormonde directed “The Duck King.” Pringles will proceed the refreshed storytelling approach on its social channels, speaking to how CPG priorities proceed to shift to social-first tactics that appeal to Gen Z.  

Pringles parent Kellanova has also been investing more in artificial intelligence to draw a clearer line between creative and business outcomes, working with partners like Vidmob and MMA Global on its performance marketing initiatives. The CPG giant is within the technique of being acquired by Mars for $36 billion, a mega-deal that might shake up the packaged foods space.