Call it the Twinkies offense.
This year's summer interns at the Minneapolis advertising agency Campbell Mithun will be selected on the strength of a proposed marketing and brand-engagement campaign for Twinkies, the cream-filled, sponge cake snack from Hostess that's scheduled to be sold later this month.
"This is a great opportunity for us to see how the marketing and advertising professionals of the future are thinking," said Debbie Fischer, Campbell Mithun's director of human resources. "We want to see innovation and creativity."
The fate of Twinkies was tossed into the air last November when owner Hostess Brands declared bankruptcy and obtained court permission to auction assets, including other well-known brands such as Wonder Bread. An auction for the Twinkies brand is scheduled for later this month.
Twinkies and Campbell Mithun have a history. The Minneapolis shop was Twinkies' agency of record from 1995 until 2004. During that time, Campbell Mithun came up with the advertising tagline "Where's the cream filling?"
During its 83-year existence, Twinkies have lost some of their appeal as tastes have changed. At one point the term "Twinkies defense" became popular to describe criminal defense theories based on the notion that a crime was based on some unusual factor, such as addiction to sugar.
Campbell Mithun intern hopefuls will have to post their Twinkies' proposals somewhere on the Internet and provide the agency with the link and a written cover note addressed to "Dear new Twinkies owners" and a "Dear Campbell Mithun hire me because" pitch.
The agency will select 13 finalists from which a handful of internships will be offered. â–¡
David Phelps • 612-673-7269
