Getting to name a national toaster pastry brand is an experience shared by very few: myself, the guy who invented Pop-Tarts, and Jerry Seinfeld by proxy.

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Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t seen Seinfeld’s directorial debut Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story, half of the movie’s plot revolves around what they’ll name the now infamous tart. Would it be Dextrose Dillies (ok, yum), Wonder Gels, or Fresh Flatties? Perhaps a better question—was this movie about me? Was I in the Truman Show?

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A year prior I had been in the same predicament with Ben and Dino, founders of the better-for-you toaster pastry brand known today as Flings®. Our runner-up name was Flat Daddies, however. It’ll make more sense in a second.

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Navigating Nostalgia

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The snack category was already nostalgiabombing. Emerging brands were swiftly reinventing childhood snacks, complete with cartoon illustrations and magical copy. Nostalgia was selling, but what would be our ownable angle on it?

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During our chats with adult snackers, we learned they craved the aesthetics of a simpler time—one before iPhones, algorithms, and the internetification of all of their things. We also witnessed how the simple act of peeling foil wrappers from rectangular cakes ignited stories of sixth-grade sugar highs and of raiding the snack drawer at a friend’s house. 

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It became clear that whimsical storytelling wasn’t necessary to cue Nostalgia™; the product’s format alone was a portal to feel-good memories. Moreover, an exciting opportunity lay in speaking directly to our pastry’s deliciously odd architecture, set within an ultra-retro visual world. 

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At Blurr, we know we’ve struck gold when we uncover unique consumer tensions through our research. For Project Pastry, it was in building a brand that looked like our childhoods, but spoke like the adults we’ve become today.

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With that in mind, what might you name a geometric, super-convenient, heat-activated sweet treat for health-conscious adults? Not Flat Daddies, not Sticky Bricks…

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Enter, Flings.

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The Better Rectangle

Flings are convenient, aerodynamic, pie-like treats with no strings attached...because they’re made with less of what’s bad and more of what’s good.

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Our brand voice found its north star in its founders. We translated Ben and Dino's fun-loving energy into a persona we call the Flingman, a playful co-conspirator who nudges all-day, everyday snackers toward a rendezvous with something sweet.

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Its personality was loosely modeled after Ferris Bueller: charming, curious, and tongue-in-cheek, while remaining mostly innocent. As a character, it allowed us to play with entendres and themes that leap-frogged the wondrous side of nostalgia, and leaned more into the fun and freedom of adulthood.

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We prioritized language that celebrated our pastry’s memorable shape, classic flavors, satisfying textures, and health benefits—while giving the team full permission to make up new, cheeky, ‘flingable’ vocabulary. 

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There was only one rule we swore by: Don’t say anything that would get a kid in trouble in the school cafeteria.

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Though Flings targeted Millennials, we looked forward to being flung into the lunchboxes of Gen Alpha —becoming a beloved snack to them much like the tarts that came before us. As the creative team behind the pastry, we’re proud to say that the client very much understood the assignment.

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Patrick Yovanov is Sr. Creative, Strategy and Storytelling at Blurr Bureau + Chief Naming Officer at Jingleheimer.

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Project Credits:

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Creative Studio:
Blurr Bureau‍‍

Creative Direction:
Jessica Dimcevski

Design:
Andy Webb
Laurie Grattan (UX/UI)
Jessica Dimcevski
Akansha Kukreja
Lucy Guernier

Art Direction:
Andy Webb

Naming:
Jingleheimer

Copywriting:
Jingleheimer
Erika Geraerts

Animation:
Jack Jaeshke

3D:
Courtney Hopkinson (Tart)
Adrian Bonaventura (Chocolate Logo)

Typography:
Ganna Krest (Wordmark)