How Joyride Broke a Guinness World Record at Target

What’s new: Candy brand Joyride launched a pair of exclusive SKUs at Target in June, promoting them with a sweepstakes and a successful attempt to beat the number recognized by Guinness World Records for the most photos of people holding candy uploaded to Instagram in 1 hour.

What we saw: An endcap display in Target stocked limited-edition Target exclusive Ice Pop Gummy Busters and Sour Rainbow Ropes along with nationally available SKUs including Cherry Berry Ropes and Sour Smacks. 

The display promoted a "golden ticket" sweepstakes awarding five winners who purchased packages with winning game pieces from June 1 to Aug. 15 a family trip to Oregon, Texas, Nevada or Maine. The prize was inspired by Joyride co-owner and chief creative officer Ryan Trahan’s "50 States in 50 Days" YouTube series. 

QR codes on the displays linked to a promotional page within JoyrideSweets.com. Realtime Media, West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, administered the sweeps.

Additional support: Joyride plugged the exclusive SKUs and sweepstakes on Instagram and TikTok. Shoppers were encouraged to go to Target and take a picture with the candy to post on Instagram at 4 p.m. ET June 13 in an attempt to beat the world record, which proved successful. Trahan received 1,733 tags in 60 minutes. 

More context: Joyride launched at 1,200 Target stores on June 15, 2024, with a three-month trial on a bottom shelf display before a national rollout in the main candy section. Trahan encouraged his followers to help boost the brand’s sales in an Instagram campaign dubbed "the climb," which landed the brand in Target’s top-3 list of bestselling candy in January and earned it the No. 2 spot in March. 

Joyride has also been expanding to other retailers, launching at Kroger and Whole Foods in May and 7-Eleven in June. 7Rewards members who bought a bag of the candy from June 25 to July 14 were automatically entered in a sweeps awarding a 2024 Ford Bronco.