Social Media is arguably omnipresent; It’s part of everything we do these days but possibly the last place we’d expect to see it is at the dinner table! This week brings the news that Birdseye is adding social media to its product range in the form of ‘Mashtags’.
Mashtags are a potato based product featuring five social media-friendly shapes, including the well-known hashtag, @ symbol, asterisk, heart and a smiley face shaped emoji. Unfortunately you’ll have to wait another couple of weeks to get your hands on a bag, as the product is set to be launched in the UK at the start of next month.
This is smart product development by Birdseye who has seamlessly capitalised on one of businesses hottest trends– Social Media. The product is appealing to the eye and is sure to grab the attention of those shoppers walking past the frozen food aisles; a new take on the smiley’s of our youth
“The addition of Mashtags to our food range is an exciting development for Birds Eye,” says Pete Johnson, senior brand manager at Birds Eye. “Social media is all about conversation and we’re confident Mashtags will resonate across various groups of people. We’re constantly looking for ways to innovate and inspire consumers and hope that Mashtags will get people talking around the table and help to make mealtimes more enjoyable.”
Despite Pete Johnson claims that Mashtags will resonate with various groups of people, here at apt we feel this marketing activity is targeted towards Generation Y. Social Media is becoming an increasingly dominant force in an ever-growing social world and this presents an opportunity to educate children through food. It’s a fun, engaging and very interactive way of learning at the dinner table and could prove to be very successful. After all, we all remember the fun we use to have making words up with Hienz’s Alphabetti throughout our childhood mealtimes; combine the two and we wouldn’t even need a phone to start tweeting!
So, if the thought of these social media potato shapes has already got you licking your lips in anticipation make sure you get down to your local store and grab yourself a bag for £1.75 (RSP) at the beginning of March.