One of the biggest messages we’ve been pushing about the Printing United Expo under the Print & Promo Marketing brand is that the promotional products and the print world aren’t so separate—and vice versa. If you can put ink on it, whether it’s a shirt, water bottle, print product, hot dog, power bank…
Wait—hot dogs?
Yes, hot dogs.
We all know food can be a valuable promotional product, and we’ve seen instances where the actual edible item is the promo itself either through being formed to look like a particular shape or being printed using an edible branding process. But, this one still feels fresh (or at least as fresh as a hot dog at a sporting event can be).
Manchester United reportedly sold hot dogs with codes that fans could redeem for Xbox Game Pass subscriptions.
(FYI) The hot dog stands at the recent Manchester United game were giving out Game Pass codes on the hot dogs 🌭😎 pic.twitter.com/Atzh6vW5Rc
— Alan Feely (@IdleSlothVGT) October 14, 2023
It’s a little bit of an out-there idea, and it doesn’t have the staying power that a lot of promotional products distributors would like their products to have, but it made an impression.
A good advertisement reaches potential new customers in all sorts of places, and “breaks into” their daily lives to make them think about the brand’s products or services.
Yes, this Redditor was probably thinking about Manchester United’s current issues in defense or Mason Mount’s questionable form, but for a brief moment thought about Xbox and signing up for Game Pass instead.
Xbox has been pretty creative with its promos over the years, too. There was the Xbox fridge, the pizza-scented controllers for the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movie, furry “Sonic the Hedgehog” controllers, the Barbie dream house console, and even a Walkman promo for maximum nostalgia.
We don’t know that we’ve ever seen a branded hot dog, even in the creative world of soccer. So, credit where it’s due to Manchester United and Microsoft for this one.
