YUMBO Redefines the Meat Stick with Bold, Inclusive "Meat for Real Meatheads" Launch by Havas Chicago

Jul. 16, 2025

The meat stick is America's fastest growing snack category (with sales hitting $3B last year), but it's still a misunderstood snack. From outdated stereotypes of gas-station snacking and macho man diets to new offerings promoting nutrition alone - the old narratives around who meat sticks are for, and why they're worth craving, needs to be re-written. 

In a new campaign we’re introduced to YUMBO, a brand-new, bigger, bolder, meatier meat stick option from Carl Buddig & Co. The humorous campaign hinges on an unexpected “meathead” - flipping the meaning from swole gym bro to anyone with an unapologetic craving for meat - and plays on the jumbo size of this new product to hit the snack aisle.

At the center of the new campaign, Meat for Real Meatheads, is a “mockumentary” style spot that tells the story of Mindy Porter, a woman with a big meat craving since the moment she could crawl. As she reflects on her life as a “meathead,” the spot reveals her intense love of meat has gotten her into some pretty awkward social situations. That is, until she found “YUMBO” - the socially acceptable way to satisfy her meat cravings … without setting her office on fire.

Created in partnership with agency of record, Havas Chicago, and shot in Chicago with Director, Brandt Lewis, of Sanctuary, the campaign will appear across various online video platforms and paid social, with various cutdowns of the hero spot running on Hulu CTV,  Disney / ESPN, YouTube, META and TikTok. Additional social and digital assets will also roll out as the campaign runs through October. 

This is Havas Chicago’s first campaign for the new YUMBO brand since being selected as agency of record for parent company Carl Buddig & Company, the family-owned and operated manufacturer of quality meats and snack products, in March. 

YUMBO can be found online and at select grocery stores and gas stations nationwide including Amazon, Meijer, HyVee Fast & Fresh, Blain’s Farm and Fleet, Speedway, Circle K, Eg America, Maverik, Piggly Wiggly, ShopRite, Wawa, 7-Eleven and more.

Jeff Beck, SVP, Group Creative Director at Havas Chicago said:

“The meat stick category is an incredibly crowded one, so we knew the only way to break through to a younger audience would be with a campaign that zigs when others zag. Many meat stick brands are trying to appeal to men in a hyper-masculine, hyper-loud way. Instead we made the intentional choice to feature a female who flips the phrase “meathead” on its head in a hilarious way. Ultimately it was our way of challenging outdated stereotypes and proudly proclaiming YUMBO is for anyone with an insatiable craving for meat.” 

 

Matt Barlow, Vice President of Brand and Commerce Marketing at Buddig said:

“When our team and Havas got together it was clear that in order to break through, we were going to have to creatively push ourselves. With so many meatstick options out there, introducing a new brand is a challenge and our team wanted to be sure consumers knew why YUMBO is different. Meat for Real Meatheads is more than just a product launch - it’s a defiance of all the other brands out there that say meatsticks are just for a certain type of person. We want our product to be for all protein-seeking snackers. And Havas Chicago did a brilliant job - not only introducing this new snack option, but also challenging the category standards.”