Why did the sun go to school? Answer: It wanted to be brighter.
This and 14 other “pun”-ny jokes like it just went into retirement – from Laffy Taffy wrappers, that is. The iconic sticky candy that has been the source for bad dad jokes for decades has taken a step into the modern era by dipping its toes into the world of NFTs. For those of you living under a rock for the past two years, those three letters refer to a Non-Fungible Token, which is a unique digital asset that is secured and stored on a public blockchain. It can be purchased, sold, and traded at will, just as you could anything else you owned. And while the first known one to be created was in 2014, it wasn’t until 2020 that the market experienced rapid growth, with combined values hitting $250 million.
Last month, 15 of the original jokes featured on the popular fruity chews were taken out of circulation and turned into NFTs. The Ferrara Candy Company brand launched a total of 120 NFTs, including 90 general ones minted as six versions of each joke with designs inspired by the candy’s vintage character art dating back to the 1970s in banana, cherry, sour apple, grape, blue raspberry and strawberry flavors; and 30 One-of-Ones (1/1) NFTs, an exclusive “shiny” subset of the collection featuring the most coveted designs that were randomly claimed during the minting process on launch day.
“We’re excited to celebrate the history of Laffy Taffy by retiring our original laffs in a fun, innovative way through the creation of NFTs as a timeless collector item. Our Laffy Taffy Original Jokes collection gives fans a unique opportunity to preserve one of our signature attributes – the jokes on our wrappers,” said Dave Foldes, marketing director of Laffy Taffy. “By retiring some of our most iconic, beloved jokes dating back to 1986, we can pay homage to them while opening the door for a new era of laffs and continued LOL fun for our wrappers.”
Fear not, though, comedy fans. Tthe Laffy Taffy wrappers – which first started featuring one liner jokes in the 80s and later began including those sent in by children – will still continue to provide “laffs” for the unforeseeable future. Just not the 15 now immortalized on the blockchain.
The National Grocers Association (NGA) is now accepting applications for its annual Creative Choice Awards, which recognizes the best marketing and merchandising programs in the independent supermarket industry for the year. Any retailer, wholesaler, supplier, manufacturer or advertising agency that has created marketing and merchandising events or promotions implemented between December 1, 2021 and December 1, 2022 for independent grocery stores may submit entries, which will be judged based on creativity, clarity, and effectiveness. However, since it technically is a retailer competition, it will be the retailer that put the campaign into action that will be honored with the award.
This year’s marketing categories include: Connections Through Omnichannel; Traditional Media – TV Radio and Print; Community Engagement; and Grand Opening or Remodel. The main merchandising catergories up for grabs are: Local, Specialty or Emerging Products; Seasonal Event or Campaign; Center Store/Frozen/GM/HBC; and Fresh Departments. There are also two sponsored special recognition categories: Kellogg’s Excellence in ESG Award, which recognizes those campaigns that focus on wellbeing, people, community and sustainability; and Unilever’s People Positive Award, which honors efforts that promote workplace diversity and inclusion. Plus, there will be two categories selected by public online voting: Outstanding Marketer and Outstanding Merchandiser. All entries are due by Friday, December 9, 2022 and will be announced at the 2023 NGA Show next February at the Caesar’s Forum Convention Center in Las Vegas.
“We all witnessed independent community grocers emerge from the pandemic having demonstrated their ability to pivot, innovate and think outside the box,” said Laura Strange, NGA senior vice president, communications and external affairs. “Now, it is time to recognize the outstanding innovation, creativity and persistence we’ve seen across our industry through the Creative Choice Awards.”
So if you’ve been part of a marketing or merchandising campaign for one of the independent grocers out there, don’t be shy! Go to NGACreativeChoice.com to find out how to throw your hat in the ring.
Speaking of standout store events, Balducci’s Food Lover’s Market in McLean, VA hosted its first-ever Summer Fair last month. The event, which helped showcase the specialty gourmet food retailer’s summer offerings as well as inspire customers to create their own dishes at home, was full of tastings, games, giveaways and prizes. The marketing team had a prize wheel for customers to win Balducci’s gift cards, branded merchandise and exclusive new products that didn’t even hit the stores shelves yet. Shoppers enjoyed a vintage-looking truck from FarmLind Produce truck that was parked outside the store where they could purchase and sample all the freshest fruit and veggies right from the farm. Farmer Focus was grilling some of its organic and free-range chicken for perusers to try. Other vendor partners personally on hand to provide samples of their products included Meatcrafters, Natalie’s Orchid Island Juice Company, Bundaberg and FireFly Farms. And let’s not forget the wine samples from two of the retailer’s partner wine distributors, including a bottled Bellini cocktail drink that was perfect as an afternoon quencher. There was even a ceremonial cracking of a parmesan wheel, which was then used to make a risotto for sampling. And the Capital Area Food Bank, which had a tent at the event where they were educating customers on food insecurity and sharing some of their homemade seed planting packets for customers to take home, also was the recipient of a check for a $142,156 grant at the event from the Balducci’s Foundation and their Nourishing Neighbors Program.
“We’re always looking for the best ways to fight hunger in the communities we serve. By partnering with top-notch organizations like Capital Area Food Bank we know we can make a difference in the lives of our neighbors who are facing food insecurity issues,” said Dana Ward, Balducci’s Foundation.
Kudos on a great showcase – I’m already looking forward to next year’s Summer Fair!
And before I sign off for August, let me leave you with one last one-liner featured in the “Laffy Taffy Original Jokes” NFT collection:
Why Don’t Lobsters Share? Because They Are Shellfish.
Until next month…
Karen can be contacted via email at: [email protected]