In an earth-shattering move, snack company MoonPie partnered with Tombras advertising agency to launch a marketing campaign aimed at a completely untapped market: aliens.

Extraterrestrial marketing: crazy or genius?

When the United States Congress hosted a series of hearings to discuss the rise of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) last summer, it gave a sense of legitimacy to the theory that “non-human biologics” (aka aliens) may exist. In response to these revelations, marshmallow sandwich company MoonPie teamed up with a group of UAP experts to develop an ad campaign appealing to creatures beyond our world. From hiring alien linguistics specialist Daniel Oberhaus to create (theoretically) alien-legible messaging, to pinpointing geographic locations for placing ads, MoonPie worked for months to create earth’s first-ever marketing campaign targeted at aliens.

According to Marketing Dive, “the campaign manifested… in the form of static and mobile billboards, along with airplane and boat banner ads… Placements ran in areas apparently known for attracting UAP activity, including Roswell, DC, Times Square, Cape Canaveral, London and Tokyo.” What’s more, MoonPies hired drone choreographers to perform a special light show over the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, as “aliens having an entrenched association with pyramids of all sorts.” The brand also launched a microsite for potential extraterrestrial customers, where it aims to connect with its first “alien-fluencer,” whom MoonPie allegedly hopes to enlist to promote its fluffy sandwiches to its kin.

The dos and don’ts of marketing to aliens

In addition to designing marketing materials for aliens, MoonPie has drafted a white paper for humans revealing “12 things [they]’ve learned about marketing to the extraterrestrials living on earth,” so that in the future, other companies can produce their own successful campaigns. MoonPie also filmed a microdocumentary about how the company turned the campaign into a reality, titled “MoonPie Alien Aquistion,” which you can watch for yourself below:

While discussing the inspiration behind the campaign, Tory Johnston, MoonPie’s VP of Sales and Marketing, commented:

“We’re constantly looking at ways we can take this 107-year-old brand favorite and find new consumer groups… When we heard the congressional hearings and all these people saying that there are definitely aliens, we knew we had to try to engage [with] potentially new MoonPie lovers in the universe.”

Dooley Tombras, president of Tombras, also shared about the significance of the campaign, and how earth is entering a new era of marketing.

“Wouldn’t it be awesome for MoonPie to go down in history as the brand that makes the first confirmed contact with non-humans? And then captures the market. The fact that we’re even having this conversation is astounding.”

Whether the stunt is a joke meant to capitalize on humans’ interest in their hypothetical intergalactic neighbors or is actually trying to reach alien consumers, one can only guess…