How Curious, Collaborative Minds Made OREO’s First-Ever Purple Cookie

Tuesday, September 15, 2026

Twist, lick, dunk. For over a century, millions of consumers around the world have shared the same ritual with OREO, turning a simple cookie into a generational moment of joy. And to this day, the iconic, playful brand still finds ways to leave the world speechless.

This year, for the first time ever, OREO went purple. Not the packaging; the cookie itself. What started as a global collaboration with K-pop band BTS became a journey of purposeful innovation for our cross-functional teams around the world.

From Seoul's Streets to Shelves

The adventure started in South Korea, where our brand team immersed themselves in the country's street food culture, from bustling morning stalls to street markets glowing after dark. The challenge they carried was simple yet enormous - how do you honor BTS, Korean culture, and the OREO brand in a flavor the whole world can enjoy?

Finding the right flavor required experiencing the culture firsthand, exploring dozens of ideas, and refining concepts relentlessly. Ultimately, it was BTS who selected the winning flavor: hotteok- a warm, syrupy brown sugar pancake sold from carts on Seoul's busiest corners and beloved by locals and BTS themselves.

The Strategy Behind the Partnership

For Marketing, the opportunity was about bringing OREO's playful spirit and connection with consumers, and BTS's extraordinary bond with fans worldwide, together. The collaboration was designed to go beyond placing two iconic names side by side; it had to feel authentically OREO while giving BTS fans a meaningful way into the band's world.

"Only a brand like OREO could partner with the biggest artist on the planet and still keep the cookie front and centre," said Deborah Carlessi, Senior Global Marketing Manager, OREO. "BTS amplifies what makes OREO iconic; the other way around would never work. With dialed-up brand assets and full global firepower across 90 markets, this is OREO at its boldest." Rolling it out at that scale required strategic clarity, global coordination, and a Marketing team that knows how to make big ideas work by building on each other's strengths across every market and function involved.

Co-Creation That Goes Beyond a Logo

Making this vision possible took shared effort across every level. Our teams across functions and markets shared ideas openly, built on different perspectives, and moved this work forward as one; bringing brand expertise, consumer understanding, and creative capabilities to the table. This is how we make MDLZ collaborative.

And when it came to the creative details, BTS were equally invested; choosing the final flavor, shaping the pack design, and personally designing 13 unique cookie embossments that celebrate 13 years of the band. ARMY (BTS Fans) who look closely can piece together three special cookies to reveal a hidden message from the members themselves.

Cracking the Color

For a collaboration with BTS, a purple OREO cookie was non-negotiable. And the purple had to be exactly right - one vibrant, consistent shade that looked and felt the same whether a fan picked it up in Korea, Japan, New York, or anywhere in the world.

Achieving this became one of the most ambitious challenges our R&D team had ever taken on. Local teams across continents took the concept and made it their own, working through different regulations, suppliers, ingredients, and production lines - all while holding each other to the same uncompromising standard: every cookie had to look, taste, and feel exactly as intended, regardless of where in the world it was made.

"What I'm most proud of is delivering one vibrant purple color across multiple markets," said Ana Carolina Gasparetti, Group Leader of the R&D Global team. "Developing color systems that held true everywhere was our biggest challenge."

When final samples arrived from every region, we placed them next to each other; flavor, embossments, that signature shade of purple; each one measured against the same uncompromising standard. The kind of precision that only happens when people across geographies trust each other's craft completely.

"It was very surreal seeing what you made come to life in a bakery," one team member said. "Kind of like a little OREO baby."

Why This Story Matters Beyond the Cookie

The OREO BTS Limited Edition cookie is a true collaboration in every sense of the word – both with the artist and within our own organization. We came together with a shared purpose across regions and functions, sharing ideas openly and building on each other's strengths - proof that when passionate people are backed by deep consumer insight and a portfolio rooted in quality, a single idea can travel from a street market in Seoul to shelves around the world.

We move with the agility of a local partner and the credibility of a global leader; fresh thinking isn't just welcomed here, it's expected. And for those of us behind this work, it's also what makes building a career here feel different; fast-moving, genuinely collaborative, and full of real opportunities to grow. Unique voices and different perspectives aren't just included, but why ideas like this come together in the first place.

OREO has been innovating for over a century. Collaborations like this one remind us that the biggest ideas rarely start in a lab; they start with curiosity and a team willing to chase an ambitious idea together.

Fresh thinking, relentless experimentation, new ideas brought to life at speed. Together, this is how we make MDLZ innovative.