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Category
Popular Culture Impact
Annual ID
OS23_CD008B
About the Work
With 25.2 billion impressions, our 2023 M&M’S Super Bowl Campaign captured the world’s attention, three times over, setting records and making the brand an integral and unavoidable part of the news cycle and discourse online in the process. How did we do it? Let’s go back a year.
Over the course of 2022 we found ourselves in the center of a culture war. After making some updates to modernize our iconic and beloved spokescandy crew - a heated, and increasingly absurd debate kicked off across cable news, social media, and publications around the world.
As a brand intent on bringing people together through the power of fun - the last thing we wanted to do was give America more to fight over. So we decided the best approach was to lean into this moment and point out the ridiculousness of it with a campaign designed to help us all laugh and move on.
We took to twitter to kick things off with a very official seeming statement, announcing to the world we were replacing our spokescandies with Maya Rudolph - and people believed it. Within hours we were the top trending topic on the app, with the tweet appearing across news sites, live television, and more, traveling from Twitter to other social platforms in the form of memes, parodies and disbelief. The tweet accumulated 52 Million views on the app and 1.4 million engagements, and this was only the beginning.
What ensued in the weeks up to the big game saw our brand, along with the storylines of Maya Rudolph and the former spokescandies, continue to spark surprise, outrage, and laughs as we remained a mainstay of discourse across all audiences and platforms. Everyone from late night tv hosts, to conservative news personalities, content creators, and other brands chimed in. From being mentioned at the Grammy Awards, to being covered in The New York Times four times in two weeks, to even being spoofed in another Super Bowl ad we continued to make waves through cultural discourse, earning over 5,000 placements in the process.
The public was transfixed by the turn the conversation had taken, following along and joining in on the absurdity. From real packs of Ma&Ya’s selling out in 5 hours online, to a Red M&M Ice Cream Scoop going for $479 on eBay, fans jumped at the opportunity to have a part in the campaign. Not only were they absorbing the content - but they began making it as well. Memes, change.org petitions, and fans urging the brand to take a stand against the haters hit timelines across the internet - as everyday people began to get in on the joke.
This all led to our Super Bowl spot, and subsequent spokescandy press conference that brought to end our record setting campaign - but continued to stoke discourse online. And while people weren’t sure how they felt about Ma&Ya’s Candy Coated Clam Bites - everyone was glad to see the characters make their return.
Over the course of 2022 we found ourselves in the center of a culture war. After making some updates to modernize our iconic and beloved spokescandy crew - a heated, and increasingly absurd debate kicked off across cable news, social media, and publications around the world.
As a brand intent on bringing people together through the power of fun - the last thing we wanted to do was give America more to fight over. So we decided the best approach was to lean into this moment and point out the ridiculousness of it with a campaign designed to help us all laugh and move on.
We took to twitter to kick things off with a very official seeming statement, announcing to the world we were replacing our spokescandies with Maya Rudolph - and people believed it. Within hours we were the top trending topic on the app, with the tweet appearing across news sites, live television, and more, traveling from Twitter to other social platforms in the form of memes, parodies and disbelief. The tweet accumulated 52 Million views on the app and 1.4 million engagements, and this was only the beginning.
What ensued in the weeks up to the big game saw our brand, along with the storylines of Maya Rudolph and the former spokescandies, continue to spark surprise, outrage, and laughs as we remained a mainstay of discourse across all audiences and platforms. Everyone from late night tv hosts, to conservative news personalities, content creators, and other brands chimed in. From being mentioned at the Grammy Awards, to being covered in The New York Times four times in two weeks, to even being spoofed in another Super Bowl ad we continued to make waves through cultural discourse, earning over 5,000 placements in the process.
The public was transfixed by the turn the conversation had taken, following along and joining in on the absurdity. From real packs of Ma&Ya’s selling out in 5 hours online, to a Red M&M Ice Cream Scoop going for $479 on eBay, fans jumped at the opportunity to have a part in the campaign. Not only were they absorbing the content - but they began making it as well. Memes, change.org petitions, and fans urging the brand to take a stand against the haters hit timelines across the internet - as everyday people began to get in on the joke.
This all led to our Super Bowl spot, and subsequent spokescandy press conference that brought to end our record setting campaign - but continued to stoke discourse online. And while people weren’t sure how they felt about Ma&Ya’s Candy Coated Clam Bites - everyone was glad to see the characters make their return.
2023 Awards
Total Points: 9
Bronze Pencil
Credits
Agency
BBDO / New York
Client / Brand
Mars Wrigley / Newark
Production Company
Pretty Bird
Music / Sound Production Company
Sound Lounge
Chief Creative Officer
David Lubars
Luiz Sanches
Matt MacDonald
Executive Creative Director
Alex Booker
David Cuccinello
David Povill
Humberto Fernandez
Peter Kain
Philip Sicklinger
Account Director
Melissa Reisman
Group Planning Director
Yin Chung
Senior Art Director
Maya Iwata
Senior Copywriter
Benner Rawley
Strategy Director
Dexter Blumenthal
Account Manager
Leah Baumgarten
Sarah Cerbone
Assistant Account Executive
Ankita John
Associate Art Producer
Cleo Montagnana
Associate Creative Director, Design
Bhanu Arbuaratna
Commerce
Tracy-Locke
Editing
Cut+Run
EVP, Director of Content Production
Alex Gianni
EVP, Senior Account Director
Ashley Gill
Influencer
Ketchum
Junior Producer
Esther Lee
Measurement
Rapp
media
Essence Mediacom
Music Production Coordinator
Katie Theobalds
Precision Marketing
Critical Mass
President & CEO
Kirsten Flanik
Production
House Special
Walker
Jogger
public relations
Weber Shandwick
Senior Business Affairs Manager
Shelly Bloch
Senior Music Producer
Julia Millison
SVP, Head of Connections Planning
Enda Conway
SVP, Project Management Director
Mark Lester
VP, Account Director
Grace Hargrave-Thomas
VP, Group Director of Marketing Science
Derek Zimmerman
VP, Group Executive Producer
Kimberly Clarke
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