Such was the case for Busken Bakery, an 85-year-old heritage brand in Cincinnati popular with anyone with a sweet tooth. Every four years an artist is commissioned to create two caricatures of the candidates, which are stenciled onto Busken’s top-selling signature iced cookies. Cookie sales from each store are tallied each day, with surprising accuracy: since the first Busken Presidential Cookie Poll in 1984, the “Cookie Poll” has never been wrong.

For the 2012 election, PB&J rolled out a national media outreach campaign, taking advantage of Ohio’s importance in the election race and drawing an unprecedented amount of attention for the heritage bakery in the process. Press releases for the Cookie Poll were sent to editors in a beautifully designed custom-made silk-lined box containing the two “Crumby Choices.” Busken Bakery quickly became a focal point in a national conversation about the election, garnering high-visibility press placements in the New York Times, USA Today, CNN, Wired, Associated Press, and more.