A Pop-Tarts and Crocs partnership exists because we’re all total suckers

It seems no day can pass without two brands creating some weird love child of a product. The latest:

• Frank’s RedHot and Sabra teamed up on hummus — which, OK, we can see that one.
• Skittles and French’s gave us a mustard-flavored skittle — still not forgiving them for that one.
• And now: Pop-Tarts and Crocs present Croc-Tarts, “an ingenious pairing of flavor and footwear.” Sure.

What gives?

Partnerships are nothing new — it’s been a common marketing strategy for decades — but today’s blistering rate of them can be attributed to two things, per Ad Age:

• The economy is weird: A majority of marketers reported a decrease in spending in this year’s CMO Survey. Naturally, though economic uncertainty tightened their budgets, the pressure to attract attention only increased.
  • Enter mashups: a cheap way to make noise, as fools like us, seeking new things to write about every day, hand out earned media like candy (non-mustard flavored, preferably).

• It simply works: It’s not just us falling for it — consumers are also simple beings who crave novelty.
  • Ad Age illustrates the power of the collab via e.l.f. Cosmetics: Its 2022 Dunkin’ collab drove a 52% lift in social impressions, and its partnership with retailer American Eagle scored 5.8m TikTok views.

Another key: Scarcity

These “limited-edition” mashups mostly play off the Supreme playbook, trying to finesse the supply-and-demand hype just right.

• In March, Nike and Tiffany launched special-issue Air Force 1s with a Tiffany blue swoosh, and the small supply of $400 shoes instantly sold out.

Pop-Tarts and Crocs — the poor man’s Tiffany and Nike? — will play the same game: just four drops, with 60 Croc-Tarts kits released in each one.

May the odds be in your flavor.