A full season of social for Hostess.
For the back half of FY26, I led creative development for Hostess's social presence, spanning six platforms, four core products, and four seasonal drops.
Working alongside a copywriter and supported by a strategy team, I owned the creative pipeline from concept through final delivery: developing ideas from cultural insights, art directing photo shoots, and designing and animating the assets that didn't go to set.
The goal was to make Hostess feel unmissable to a younger generation of snackers, and to do it with the kind of humor and personality that actually stops a scroll.
Role: Creative concept, art direction, design, animation, on-set direction
Platforms: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat
Concept 1:
Can You Pay?
Product
Cupcakes Minis
The insight
Cupcakes Minis are small enough to stash anywhere and just the right size to be the only thing you carry.
The idea
We jumped on a trending TikTok moment (the "can you pay for dinner?" purse reveal) and filled it with nothing but Cupcakes Minis. No wallet, no ID, just snacks.
Role
Concept, shoot direction, edit
Full production shoot. Paid and organic video across Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, and Reddit.
Concept 2:
Don't Half Snack It
Product
Donettes, Twinkies, and Cupcakes
The insight
Hosting season was coming, and everyone was looking for ways to impress their guests.
The idea
We created a carousel of Hostess hosting tips, each one built around a product pun: "Make their eyes Twinkies," "Donette let your guests get hungry," "Take the cupcake. Turn up the decor."
Role
Concept, art direction, shoot direction
The most production-heavy piece of the quarter. Final carousel ran across Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, and organic Instagram.
Concept 3:
The Golden Child
Product
Twinkies
The insight
Twinkies are not just a snack. They're a flex and deserve their main character moment.
The idea
We gave Twinkies a full WWE-style reintroduction, turning a snack break into a cinematic event. On-screen text reads like a wrestling title card: "The Golden Child. Deliciouslie Soft, Sweet, Creamie, Undefeated."
Role
Concept, design, animation
No shoot, no budget. Built entirely from product photography, stock footage, and layered animation.
Concept 4:
Festive AF
Product
Limited-Edition Holiday Cupcakes
The insight
Holiday content for snack brands tends to blur together: snowflakes, cozy lighting, the same warm-and-fuzzy playbook. We wanted Hostess to cut through that with something people actually wanted to engage with.
The idea
I designed a fake Hostess ugly holiday sweater ("Hey, You Look Festive AF") and built the entire video around it as if it were real merch. The video opens on someone wearing the sweater, zooms in on the details, then reveals the limited-edition Holiday Cupcakes packaging.
Role
Concept, design, animation
I designed a fake Hostess holiday sweater and composited it onto footage to look real.
The merch didn't exist. The comments asking where to buy it did.
49
assets delivered
(36 net new, 13 repurposed)
4
core products
4
seasonal drops
1
full production shoot directed
8
concepts executed from scratch with a $0 budget