• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, June 20, 2017

SweeTARTS returns to VidCon this week, encouraging fans of the candy to create original content. The company joined forces with game creators iHasCupquake and OMGitsfirefoxx to help fans co-create content at the event through virtual reality (VR) and mosaic art pinned to a wall at the event.

"We’re inspired by our fans and their passionate obsessions and have drawn inspiration from them to create our newest products and co-create content at our booth," said Meghan Erickson, SweeTARTS brand manager.

Indeed, SweeTARTS hooked up with creators Tiffany Garcia, known to fans as iHasCupquake, and Sonja Reid, aka OMGitsfirefoxx and super gamer on Amazon's Twitch platform, to create Chewy Sours Tart Toss, a game where fans are transported into a world of SweeTARTS challenging or collaborating with their friends to reach the high score.

At VidCon, Erickson said SweeTARTS is asking fans to share their biggest passions. While at VidCon, they can take a photo and post it on a mosaic wall to share with all. The mosaic made up of pictures will reveal the candy brand's latest creation on Friday. The new product is scheduled to ship in December 2017.

The campaign, Follow Your TART, originally launched in 2016, encouraging fans to continue following their passions throughout 2017.

The new candy creation being unveiled at the conference is inspired by the brand's fans. "We felt there was no better place to share the news of our newest creation than by unveiling it with our fans at an event where they are the most passionate," Erickson said.

SweeTARTS continues to run extensive search engine optimization (SEO) strategies on Google and Bing, but the company also picked up its presence on social sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to update fans along the way.

Erickson said search is one of several platforms SweeTARTS uses to highlight the many forms, flavors and textures that have come from "passionately" making candy.