That’s the rhetorical question Sprinkles asked to market its new line of chocolate bars, released in early April.
In flavor and appearance, the bars are modeled after cupcakes. Shaped like a round of frosting bearing Sprinkles’ trademarked modern dot, the four flavors are red velvet, sprinkle, dark chocolate, and black and white.
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Georgetown Cupcake implicitly asked itself the same question. Their response takes the form of cookie mixes inspired by cupcake flavors.
The new line debuted at Williams Sonoma in January. I began my research with the salted caramel chocolate chip flavor.
The cookies add to Georgetown Cupcake’s existing cupcake and layer cake mixes at Williams Sonoma.
In related marketing developments, the pandemic induced both companies to break with their established norms. Georgetown Cupcake used to offer a 20% discount on its seasonal dozens, but broadened it to apply to any online order.
Sprinkles offered national shipping for the first time in its 15-year history. The cupcakery explicitly teaches consumers how to store and maintain cupcakes. From the start, Sprinkles opted not to ship cupcakes in order to uphold their standards of quality and freshness. That changed in July 2020, when the company began shipping frozen cupcakes nationwide.
Andrea Adleman | Cupcakologist 