Velveeta pairs with chocolatier to create cheese truffles in latest marketing campaign

WASHINGTON (TND) — Velveeta, the iconic orange day-glow processed cheese, announced Tuesday it was launching a unique confectionary: chocolate cheese truffles.

The Kraft Heinz-owned brand teamed up with Los Angeles-based gourmet chocolatiers Compartés to create “TruffVels,” a white chocolate candy infused with Velveeta cheese sauce and crafted a shell shape, reminiscent of boxed shells and cheese.

“Two of life’s greatest pleasures are cheese and chocolate and we've already seen our pleasure seekers experiment with this combination across social media, so this collab was a no brainer,” said Kelsey Rice, senior brand communications manager for Velveeta. “As a brand that’s all about making outrageous pleasure a way of life, we decided to bring these two flavors together to create the most outrageously elevated version of a cheesy, chocolatey recipe for our fans to enjoy.”

The cheese company has been pushing this rebrand of “outrageous pleasure” as “a way of life” recently through it’s “La Dolce Velveeta” marketing campaign that has included other attention-grabbing food combinations. In the summer of 2022 alone, the brand offered two new products to consumers that commanded headlines in the food world.

In June of last year, Velveeta launched a limited-edition, cheese-scented nail polish in two colors: a deep yellow called “La Dolce Velveeta” and a bright red – based on the brand logo – called “Finger Food.” The two strains of nail polish were created in collaboration with Nails.INC but were inedible.

Then, in July of 2022, the company teamed up with the BLT Restaurant Group’s chain of steakhouses to create a cheesy spin on a martini: the Velveeta Veltini. A reviewer for the Washington Post said the “unapologetic, outrageously cheesy” cocktail tasted “like a bad joke.”

Also, while not a company creation, amateur chefs and snack-designers on social media have taken to creating their own attempts at viral Velveeta mashups, like this combination of the cheese and skittles.

Jess Vultaggio, vice president of marketing and head of The Kitchen – the internal marketing team of Kraft Heinz – told Food Dive in a 2022 interview that the parent company invests time and resources into developing non-traditional ways to highlight what consumers truly enjoy about their products.

Citing examples like a Kraft Macaroni and Cheese flavor of ice cream and a Grey Poupon wine, Vultaggio said, “Once you know what your brand stands for and what’s compelling about it to your target consumer, then we just sort of go and hunt in culture for things that we can do.”

The TruffVels retail for $24.95 a box, with five confectionaries in each box.