J&J Snack Foods acquires Dippin' Dots (Score 7)

J&J Snack Foods announced it has acquired Dippin' Dots (DD). The deal, which is expected to close by the end of the month, is reportedly worth $222m. J&J will utilize its marketing resources to expand DD into new markets and build brand awareness. J&J's DMs believe DD will complement its portfolio of snack brands, which will help its market position. DD produces flash-frozen beaded ice cream treats and operates a network of 140 franchise locations. 

Per Pathmatics, J&J earned 19.9m impressions YTD through desktop display ads (84%) and mobile display ads (16%). It placed the majority (67%) of these ads directly onto sites such as sixflags.com, dealnews.com, minq.com, wordfind.com and factinate.com. It placed the remainder (33%) of these ads through multiple indirect channels onto sites such as yahoo.com, urbandictionary.com, cookinglight.com, signupgenius.com and dealnews.com. It spent around $118.9k on digital display ads YTD, a 45% increase from $82.1k spent in this channel during the same time period of 2021. Full-year spend fell by 51% from $302k in 2020 to $146.6k in 2021. 

Sellers-- J&J mainly targets millennial parents through digital display ads. It also targets businesses such as foodservice companies. The company has been increasing spend so far this year after it cut spend in 2021. J&J also invests in OOH and print ads, per Kantar. No national spend data is available for DD, but I expect J&J to ramp spend up for the brand now that it is handling marketing. Sellers should get in touch to offer ad space. 

Agency & martech readers-- To the best of my knowledge, J&J works with Vault Communications on PR and DD works with Fishman on PR. This acquisition could lead to agency hires, especially for DD, so reach out to see if you can offer any of your services.