Yes Sticks
Fonterra
Issue 35 | June 2015
Agency
Colenso BBDO
Creative Team
Creative Chairman Nick Worthington Executive Creative Director Steve Cochran Copywriter Oriel Davis-Lyons Art Director Beth O’Brien
Production Team
Executive Producer Tim Freeman Project Director Maria Bjorkman Planner Sarah Oberman
Date
January 2015
Background
Tip Top ice cream had been around in New Zealand for 80 years. It was the most popular ice cream brand in the country despite having a fraction of the marketing budget of their closest competitor, the Unilever owned giant, Streets. To compete, Tip Top had to be a bit smarter with their marketing. So, for their 2015 summer campaign, they turned to science.
Idea
Research had shown that ice cream created neurological impulses that made people feel happy. Consequently, people who were happy were more likely to say 'Yes'.
So, if you were looking for a positive response to a request, what better place to put your most important question than on an ice cream stick?
Yes Sticks was a way to ask someone for something by harnessing the beneficial effects of ice cream.
Outdoor and print ads drove people to feeltiptop.co.nz. Here, and on Facebook, people used an app to enter the questions they wanted to ask and who they were asking. Then each question was put on a custom-made ice cream stick inside the ice cream of that person's choice and then hand-delivered back to them so they give it personally to whoever it was they were asking.
- Can I have a raise?
- Will you go out with me?
- Can I have a puppy?
Then Tip Top reported the news as people all over the country said YES!
Results
People engaged with the campaign on social media over 1 million times, and in a country of only 4 million, that was regarded as pretty good.
97% of the people who used Yes Sticks got the answer they wanted.
The campaign helped Tip Top have their best summer sales in 80 years, beating the previous year's sales by 14%. Over the duration of the promotion, Tip Top's market share grew by a full 7%.
Our Thoughts
Apparently 2,500 people submitted questions they wanted printed on a stick. 233 women wanted their partners to propose. 200 people wanted to be taken to Bali. 202 people wanted the boss to give them a rise or a break. 165 people wanted to ask Mum and Dad for a loan. Only 27 got their questions asked on a stick but those 27 personal stories were interesting enough to reach a quarter of all Kiwis.
For me, this campaign is a brilliant demonstration of how storytelling works in advertising. To be really effective, communication is not the brand telling its story to consumers, it’s consumers telling their stories to each other.