MoonPie and ad agency partner Tombras teamed up on MoonPie MoonMate, a virtual roommate via Alexa skill.

Among the roommate duties and other tasks performed after users say, “Alexa, launch MoonPie MoonMate,” it can:

• Pay rent (in the form of MoonPies)
• Avoid doing chores and other at-home activities
• Offer way too much information about its life
• Try its best to keep you inside
• Offer “prompted and unprompted” MoonPie facts, history, recipes and more
• Make you laugh and keep you entertained with conversation
• Compliment your wardrobe
• Discuss MoonPie social media lore such as Linda, MoonPie child and the brand’s social media manager
• Ponder space and other celestial marvels
• Answer popular Alexa questions

MoonPie vice president of sales and marketing Tory Johnston said, “We know how hard being stuck inside and distant from loved ones has been for everyone. Our goal for MoonMate was to create conversations with a sense of empathy and understanding, all while staying true to the brand.”

Tombras chief creative officer Jeff Benjamin added, “When everyone went into quarantine and started social distancing, we could immediately feel the loneliness and isolation. MoonPie has always been a bit of a jester and voice of levity, so the brand’s purpose was a natural starting point helping people through distancing, isolation and quarantine. Covid-19 has been a time machine for culture, letting it catch up to where technology got to first. MoonMate hints at the future of conversational content and commerce where a brand’s artificial intelligence and voice are its soul.”

And Tombras president Dooley Tombras said, “Three years ago, we took a 100-year-old CPG (consumer packaged goods) snack cake and personified it on Twitter, and now, we’re taking that distinct brand voice from that two-dimensional world and bringing it to a multi-dimensional audio experience and another level of brand engagement. In typical MoonPie fashion, it’s totally bizarre and home grown, but it’s a great example of nascent technology getting integrated with everyday life to solve a problem.”