Front Office Sports ran a piece this week with an incredible lead photo: a cyclist mid-race, Rice Krispies Treat hanging out of his mouth like a gel pack. The headline— “Upending the Billion-Dollar Sports Fuel Wars.”

It’s the perfect visual metaphor: unexpected, a little irreverent, and memorable.

Why It Works: Familiar + Unexpected = Viral

The whole concept is great and a good blueprint for marketers to break through in the attention economy. Take something everyone already recognizes, drop it into a context where it doesn’t traditionally belong, and let the internet do the rest.

The article was full of those moments:

A story of a marathon runner pounding an entire 16-pack of Rice Krispies Treats the day before her race to fuel up.
Tour de France riders strapping the bars to their handlebars with hair ties- they’re “sticky” enough to stay put.

None of this was paid-influencer specific. Just stories that are easy to pass around because they’re fun, slightly unbelievable, but have truth behind them.

Kellogg’s Gets It.

Remember the Pop-Tarts Bowl?

It was a sponsored property that felt like it shouldn’t work, until it became one of the most viral moments in college football history.

They built an edible mascot which was ‘toasted’ and devoured post-game (RIP). The internet went wild. The campaign delivered an estimated $12M+ in media value and became a case study in how to weaponize absurdity for earned attention.

Most brands would have sanitized the entire thing but Kellogg’s leaned into the bit.

The Real Lesson for Marketers: Stories Beat Spend

Craft a smart, ownable story and the distribution takes care of itself. Without that, paid media is expensive life support.

Obviously, there is room for ‘logo-slaps’ and media spend in a full media plan - after all, as friends at Chipotle have told me, sometimes “you just need someone to think about your brand first and know you sell healthy burritos when they’re getting hungry,” but the Rice Krispie Treats campaign breaks through to everyday buyers and opens up a whole new ‘eating occasion’ (sports), which is why I thought it was so brilliant.

It all simply comes down to that a story travels when it’s fun, surprising, or subversive.

Rice Krispies Treats in the Tour de France peloton? Exactly it.

The Playbook Moving Forward

If you’re a brand, a rights holder, or a marketer watching this from the sideline, here’s the actual takeaway from this campaign:

Start with something instantly recognizable.
Drop it into a setting where it doesn’t belong.
Let the moment be ridiculous.
Support it with paid media once the story is alive.

The strategy is paying off for Kellogg.

(Note: A few months after this post went live (December 12, 2025), the Wall Street Journal released an article: “Companies Are Desperately Seeking ‘Storytellers’” - which describes the opportunities brands know they have by putting a playbook like this into practice for themselves. It’s a good read.)