The following was originally published by colleague Jerry Milani on Portada…
While the Goya (@GoyaFoods) brand may be the first that comes to mind when considering the kinds of full-flavored seasonings so popular with Spanish eating and drinking, San Antonio-based family brand Twang Partners (@twang_official) has carved out a niche, and with its products now available on shelves in 46 states as well as online, Twang recently made a push north, to Chicago, with activations at Fire (@ChicagoFire) and White Sox (@whitesox) tailgates and games as part of its growth plan. The guerrilla marketing was a hit with fans, according to Edmundo Macias, Director of Marketing at Twang.
“These activations were not endorsed or sponsored by the teams,” explained Macias. “We simply hired a street team that could hand out samples near the stadium including the parking lot to target tailgaters.”
Macias sees sports marketing as an important growth area as the company continues to offer its products to a wider audience, and even teach them the proper way to salt their beer.
With Chicago a new market for Twang, whose brand lines include flavored salts, sugars and seasonings with names like Twang-A-Rita, Cafe Zuca and ZAS!, and without the huge budgets of a Goya, Macias noted that the baseball and soccer crowds were the right fit to introduce the products.
“We want to increase our product’s brand awareness and trial where there was a good mix, demographically, with beer drinking adults,” he added. “We also wanted to make sure that there was a fair amount of Latinos as our product was originally inspired by the Mexican tradition of adding salt and lime to beers.”
The Treviño family, which shook out its first beer salts under the Twang name in 1986 in San Antonio then throughout Texas, has had success with Mexican national soccer team games as well as bar promotions during boxing events featuring Mexican and Mexican-American fighters. But Macias sees sports marketing as an important growth area as the company continues to offer its products to a wider audience.
“We are hoping to also initiate some activations in and around Dodgers and Lakers games who both have a huge Latino fan base,” he noted.
With Twang’s products serving as complements to food and beverages, the company is also looking to partner with liquor and beer companies, particularly with its flagship Beer Salt product and, according to Macias, Twang-A-Rita, meant to rim drinks and cocktails.
“Our beer salts are great compliments to Mexican beers and domestic lagers,” concluded Macias, “so there are lots of possibilities to co-promote our products and give these facilities an opportunity to offer something completely unique to their customers.”
It’s a brand on the rise and one to look out for in the sports marketing space.
