Superstar athletes and chewing gum might seem like an odd combination, but candy brand Bazooka, makers of Ring Pop, Push Pop and, of course, Bazooka bubble gum, recently received an infusion of investment money from top athletes.
The investor group includes about 60 players from baseball, basketball and football, including Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf and University of North Carolina’s Deja Kelly.
Bazooka Candy Brands CEO Tony Jacobs spoke with Marketplace’s Sabri Ben Ashour about how the candy maker plans to leverage its new relationship. Below is an edited transcript of the conversation.
Sabri Ben Ashour: Usually we hear about brands sponsoring athletes, but here we see a lot of athletes putting their money into Bazooka Candy, why is that?
Tony Jacobs: Yeah, it’s a great story. I want to give you guys a little bit of background on Bazooka so you can kind of feel the connection. I’ve been with the company for about 11 years and it’s been going really well. This growth has brought attention to our business and we were acquired by Apax Partners in October 2023. They have an incredible network. That network includes Patricof Co, which is made up of athlete investors. We couldn’t be more excited to have all of our athletes invest in the company. And they did.
Ben Ashour: Well, why does Bazooka see the sports world as a good place to build relationships and expand right now?
Jacobs: When you think about sports and athletes, adults and kids alike watch sports, play sports, play video games about sports, are interested in sports. So this is a great way to connect with a consumer base. And you know in today’s world, there’s a lot more emphasis on social and digital, but what athletes bring to the table when they activate their own networks and connect with our networks is incredibly powerful. What excited me about the Patricof deal was that it wasn’t just a sponsorship. It wasn’t just about having an athlete come in and tweet or do something on their social media pages. It was an opportunity to align their relationship with us, what we’re trying to do, and help build a business, and do that for the long term. That was what excited me the most.
Ben Ashour: Does that mean we’ll start seeing more athletes in commercials and in the cartoons that come with bubble gum packs, or how will that work?
Jacobs: Yeah, that’s exactly what you’re going to see. We’re trying to get athlete investors directly involved in the business. And, you know, we started that effort with one of our investors, DK Metcalf. It was really exciting. When he came into the office, I thought, “Hey, DK Metcalf is coming. Let’s go meet him. Let’s shake hands and take a picture in front of the bazooka sign.” But it didn’t stop there. DK came in and all I heard was, “Oh, he wants to do a PowerPoint presentation.” I was blown away. I’d never had a celebrity come in and do a PowerPoint presentation before, but he came and did a presentation about who he is, his brand equity, product ideas, PR ideas, content ideas. It was really awesome. Now we’re working with DK to see how we market those things.
Ben Ashour: Bazooka has also partnered with DC Comics, which makes me wonder if that means Batman and Wonder Woman will be appearing in gum comics, or if Bazooka gum will be appearing in upcoming Batman and Wonder Woman comics.
Jacobs: We did something we call Bazooka Bars. The great Bazooka Joe comics have been around since 1951, but it’s a great way to tap into that nostalgia but make it new by having culturally relevant characters and people in your comics. Like you said, we saw that with DC Comics. And what we’ll see in the future is working with current, famous athletes and having them appear in Bazooka Bars. That was one of DK Metcalf’s ideas, as a way to have him and other big names in sports appear in the comics and do something fun around it.
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