Club Crackers, now under Mars, and Butter Wines by JaM Cellars are relaunching their cross-category retail partnership with a sweepstakes tied to in-store co-placement, marking the brands' second joint activation since a 2023 run that exhausted inventory before the campaign concluded.
The promotion, live from July 1 through November 20, 2026, requires entrants aged 21 or older to purchase one qualifying box of Club Crackers and upload the receipt at ClubCrackers.com/ButterNapaWeekend. A no-purchase-necessary entry path is also available. The grand-prize package covers roundtrip airfare for four, a luxury Napa Valley hotel stay, a build-your-own charcuterie class at the JaM Cellars Wine & Music Studio, a private chef-led four-course dinner incorporating Club Crackers at every course alongside Butter Wine pairings, and a collection of limited-edition co-branded merchandise.
The Retail Strategy
The partnership's commercial logic centers on adjacent shelf placement: Butter Chardonnay, which Nielsen data through December 27, 2025 ranks as the number-one best-selling premium Chardonnay SKU in the U.S. across total U.S. expanded all-outlet combined channels at the $13-and-above, 750-milliliter tier, will sit beside Club Extra Buttery, the brand's newest permanent line extension. NIQ basket data for the 52 weeks ending August 10, 2024 shows that adults aged 35 to 44 are 30% more likely than average to purchase crackers and wine on the same shopping trip, a consumer-behavior insight that underpins the co-location rationale.
"After seeing such a positive response to our previous collaboration with Butter Wines, we knew we wanted to find another way to bring the best of both brands to fans," said Carrie Foose, Director of Brand Marketing for Club Crackers. "This sweepstakes is the next evolution of that relationship, creating a one-of-a-kind experience inspired by everything people love about Club."
Cross-Category Momentum
The 2023 debut introduced Club x Butter Chardonnay Minis — wine-infused crackers sold in a limited-run Ultimate Butter Box — which sold out each day of its opening week and cleared remaining inventory before the campaign window closed. That velocity has made the partnership a case study in snack-and-beverage cross-promotion within the broader trend of food and wine brands pursuing shared retail real estate to lift basket size.
Michele Truchard, co-founder of Butter Wines, framed the pairing's appeal in everyday-occasion terms: "There's nothing I love more than good wine, great snacks, and the people you share them with. That's the whole idea behind Butter."
For foodservice and retail operators, the activation illustrates a wider co-branding playbook in the snack and wine category — using experiential prize incentives to drive repeat purchase and receipt uploads that generate first-party consumer data. Receipts must be submitted no later than November 27, 2026. The sweepstakes is open to residents of the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia; Alaska and Hawaii are excluded. Kellanova, the Mars-owned entity that sponsors the promotion, is headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
