M&Ms Messages
Mars Chocolate North America/ M&Ms
Issue 55 | July 2020
Agency
BBDO New York
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer, BBDO Worldwide: David Lubars Chief Creative Officer, BBDO New York: Greg Hahn Executive Creative Director: Tim Bayne Associate Creative Directors: Jenn Tranbarger, Jessica Rello Associate Junior Copywriters: Georgia Murphy, Benner Rawley
Production Team
Director of Integrated Production: David Rolfe Group Executive Producer: Amy Wertheimer Executive Producer: Lisa Petroni Producer: Mike Ritchie Music Producer: Melissa Chester Editorial Company/ Conform, Finish Company, Graphic Designer, Visual Effects Company: House Special Chief Creative Officer, Director: Kirk Kelley Executive Producer: Lorry Hammack Senior Producer: Zilpha Yost Editor: Cam Williams Flame Artist: Rex Carter Nuke Compositor: John Corbett Lead CG Artist: Gabe Sprenger Technical Director: Patrick VanPelt Texture Artist/ Surfacing Artist: Jane Byrne Lighting Artist: Clay Connally Animators: Chris Ohlgren, Josh Look Animation Director: John Robson
Other Credits
CEO & President, BBDO New York: Kirsten Flanik Global Account Leader, Mars Inc.: Susannah Keller Senior Director: Lisa Piliguian Account Directors: Ashley Gill, Rebecca Orlandi Account Executive: Jessica Dunne Business Manager: Paul Cisco Group Director, Behavioral Planning: Annemarie Norris Comms Planning Director: Brian Brydon Senior Brand Strategist: Dexter Blumenthal Composer: Pulse Music Executive Producer: Dan Kuby Producer: Miranda Grieco Audio Record/ Audio Finishing Company: Sound Lounge Engineer: Rob Difondi Producer: Lauren Mullen
Date
February 2019
Background
M&M'S status as America’s number-one chocolate is built on the popularity of their classic variants like Peanut and Milk Chocolate. But in recent years, those classics faced stagnating growth and penetration declines among younger consumers. In response, the classic M&M'S pack was reimagined in a way that would make them more distinct and relevant to their younger target — drawing inspiration from the flourishing culture of using gifs and memes to communicate online, funny, shareable messages were put on their packs that anyone could use to spark a moment of laughter with others.
Idea
To introduce M&M'S Messages—a series of 34 unique on-pack phrases designed to speak for you—eight 15-second commercials were created that let their bags do the talking by reacting to live moments throughout the 2020 Oscars broadcast. These ads were perfectly timed and contextually placed to provide real-time commentary on everything - from the winners, to the losers, to anything in between. And they did it all without knowing their placement until 48 hours before airing. The Oscars launch was such a success, we continued the campaign was continued on YouTube with 55 highly targeted and contextually placed pre-roll ads, tailored to appear before the platform’s most popular videos. Using their on-pack messages, they were able to “customize” their ads based on the date, time of day, and type of content people were watching to demonstrate how the new packs could apply to a range of scenarios and occasions in their own lives.
Results
Significant Sales Lift in Younger Shopper Channels: in its first month, Messages drove a 19% lift in sales of M&M'S in convenience stores, where their younger target is more likely to shop (Mars Nielsen sales reporting). 2.19 million earned twitter impressions: making them the most talked about non-sponsor brand of the night and creating a fame-driving moment for the M&M’S brand (via Brandwatch Social Listening) 144 million PR impressions: surpassing their goal by 15% Our Hyper-Relevant Ads Drove Strong Engagement: their 6-second ads had a 19% higher completion rate than the industry benchmark for 6-second content, suggesting that their approach of tailoring ads to the videos they ran in front of appealed strongly to YouTubers and captured their attention. Retailers gave them a special place in their stores: 2x the anticipated orders of product and display stands from retailers.