The Hungry-Me Generator
Mars Chocolate Continental Europe
Issue 28 | September 2013
Agency
BBDO Proximity Duesseldorf GmbH
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer: Wolfgang Schneider Creative Managing Directors: Sebastian Hardieck, Christian Mommertz Regional Executive Creative Director: Darren Richardson Executive Creative Director: Kristoffer Heilemann Creative Director: Achim Metzdorf Art Director: Ines Bovenschen, Philipp Alings Copywriter: Claudius Sperling, Christopher Neumann
Production Team
Head of TV: Steffen Gentis Production Company: Pluspol, Parasol Island Music/Sound/Design: Parasol Island, NHB Visual Effects/Animation: Parasol Island
Other Credits
Account Team: Sabine Frank, Sonja Struss, Gerladine Schnell, Daniel Schaefer, Rob Gervasi
Date
April 2013
Background
Snickers had been running a successful above-the-line campaign around the theme “You’re not you when you’re hungry.” The brief was to amplify the idea in digital media.
Idea
When you took a picture on your smart phone, the Hungry-Me app machine turned the face (you or a friend’s face) into its hungry personality.
Sliders allowed you to give multiple instructions to the app about how you or they behave when hungry. Stupid, angry, vacant, weak, irritable. The generator created a picture of your hungry self. Mix the behaviours and the pictures became more and more bizarre.
The amusing images that were produced could be shared via social media and email or be downloaded directly onto your phone or tablet.
Results
After launching the app in the Netherlands it was downloaded over 2,000 times within five days. Over 65% of those users were active on Facebook with the app. The majority of 25,000 Facebook contacts were a result of the Netherlands launch.
Our Thoughts
One of the big problems for digital creative is when they get given a TV idea and are expected to amplify it online somehow. What helps here is the idea is so simple. It’s transformation through hunger.
A footballer becomes a bit of a diva (or Joan Collins in the TV commercial). A gentle kind of guy becomes a monster; a loving Mum becomes a witch.
The creative team have been true to the original idea but have made it work in a completely different medium, encouraging participants to turn their friends into hideous mutants. Fun stuff!