Aarrrrr, Ahoy Matey! Pirate’s Booty Campaign Celebrates International Talk Like A Pirate Day

For kid-focused snack brand Pirate’s Booty, this Saturday is like Christmas, Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day all rolled into one. It’s the annual International Talk Like A Pirate Day, the pseudo-holiday created by a couple of friends in 1995 and subsequently adopted by fun-loving people everywhere.

For the occasion, Pirate Brands partnered with comedian and actor David Engel, who is known for his one-man comedy show Pirate School! in which he plays a swashbuckling pirate called Billy Bones. Engel travels to schools, libraries, theaters and other venues and performs the show 250 times annually.

Pirate’s Booty has made over its website to celebrate the day, featuring an animation and a navigational element labeled “Talk Like A Pirate,” which leads to a micro-site created for the occasion.

Visitors to the “Talk Like A Pirate” site will encounter a pirate dictionary; branded PDF downloads describing activities and games; and an entry form for a sweepstakes to win $2,500 and a family trip to Universal Orlando resort. It also includes a list of locations for the brand’s “Talk Like A Pirate Tour,” where it will staff grocery stores in 10 different cities on Saturday.

To promote the website and build the snack brand, Pirate’s Booty has sponsored Talk Like A Pirate-themed posts on blogs aimed at parents, including Keeping Life Sane, Running Rachel and JaMonkey. As part of the integration, the bloggers were given the opportunity to connect with Billy Bones of Pirate School, and many of them included information about the encounter in their posts.

Other sponsored blog posts included recipes featuring the snack food, such as this one on Quirky Inspired.:

Meanwhile, Pirate Brands is leveraging its own presences to promote the website and the sponsored blog posts.

Shiver me timbers, we’re getting ready for Talk Like A Pirate Day! The hunt for the treasure is on. Head to our website for Talk Like A Pirate Day activities like this one. #piratesbooty #talklikeapirateday

A photo posted by Pirate’s Booty (@piratesbooty) on Sep 14, 2015 at 10:48am PDT

“Talk Like a Pirate Day is our favorite holiday at Pirate Brands,” said Michael Sands, Executive Vice President of Snacks at Pirate Brands, in a statement. “The pirate craze is going strong — and we recognize that it’s really great for kids to be able to connect with that sense of adventure and fun that we embrace with the Pirate’s Booty brand.”

About The Author

Pamela Parker

Pamela Parker is Research Director at Third Door Media's Content Studio, where she produces Martech Intelligence Reports and other in-depth content for digital marketers in conjunction with Search Engine Land, Marketing Land, MarTech Today and Digital Marketing Depot. Prior to taking on this role at TDM, she served as Content Manager, Senior Editor and Executive Features Editor. Parker is a well-respected authority on digital marketing, having reported and written on the subject since its beginning. She's a former managing editor of ClickZ and has also worked on the business side helping independent publishers monetize their sites at Federated Media Publishing. Parker earned a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.