Background

In 2022, we made several updates to our iconic spokescandy crew to bring these beloved, decades old, characters more in line with today’s world. What started with a simple footwear change ended up kicking off a heated, and sometimes hilarious, year long debate that placed our spokescandies and our brand in the spotlight, in a way that took us far from the purpose of the changes in the first place.

As a brand with a mission of bringing people together, somehow we had found ourselves stuck in the center of a divisive conversation. 

We needed to change the tone of the discourse, find a way out, and bring America back together, to move on together.

To do that we would need something much bigger than a spot, something that would get the whole country talking.

And what better stage to pull it off, than the Super Bowl?

IDEA

Our idea was simple: Flip the nationwide debate around our spokescandies on its head by canceling them ourselves.

With our controversial initial announcement that we were replacing our iconic spokescandies with Maya Rudolph - we leaned into the cultural moment and captured the world’s attention. Then, with everyone watching, we transformed the brand further through a series of increasingly absurd changes as the spokescandies searched for new jobs - culminating in a bizarre Super Bowl spot for Ma&Ya’s Candy Coated Clam Bites, that was quickly followed by a press conference where our spokescandies returned, for good.

By creating a narrative even more outrageous than the original one we became an unavoidable part of the newscycle and social conversation on our own terms - helping us bring to life a ridiculous story that engaged and entertained our fans all over, and eventually united America in wanting M&M’S and their spokescandies back.

STRATEGY

Inadvertently caught up in the middle of a culture war and debate over spokescandy footwear, that turned us into an unavoidable and polarizing talking point on cable news and a mainstay on everyone’s newsfeeds, we realized the best way to change the tone of this absurd conversation was to start an even more absurd one.

So we decided to convince the world we were reacting to the controversy by canceling the spokescandies altogether.

In doing so, we hoped we could tap into the passion both sides of the debate, and the people caught in between, shared - and ultimately unite America over their shared love of our iconic spokescandies, bringing a country divided, together.

With an ecosystem of assets across a variety of mediums helping make this story feel as real as it did outrageous, we kept  fans and the media engaged and entertained the whole way. 

EXECUTION 

From the viral tweet that launched it all, and at every turn along the way - our campaign was tailormade to spark intrigue, outrage, and more online and in the media. Leveraging different platforms and target audiences, we used almost every possible medium including TV, digital, partnerships and more to help our brand trend for weeks up to, and through the big game.

Our initial announcement instantly made the absurd changes happening at M&M’S an integral and unavoidable part of the global newscycle and newsfeeds, and virtually everyone had an opinion. Meanwhile, the surprises at each step kept people excited and guessing, generating attention along the way for our campaign like never before.

Tapping into a charged cultural moment, and bringing our fans along for the ride - we leaned into the conversation around our brand, and used our Superbowl campaign to bring a divided America together for a laugh.

RESULTS

Through taking charge of the cultural moment we found ourselves in, we created the most talked-about campaign at Super Bowl LVII, earning 25.2 billion impressions overall and constant news coverage and online conversation - that went far beyond the big game.

Our initial tweet made us the number one trending topic on Twitter, and we carried that momentum through to the big game, raking in 1 million engagements and 6.4k earned media placements along the way including publications like the New York Times, GQ, Vanity Fair, with Time Magazine praising the campaign as “The Biggest Stunt,” NPR calling it “The Biggest Culture War Head Fake.” while Contagious raved, “M&M’s played the media like a fiddle.”

This resulted in the highest Q1 sales for the brand ever, but most importantly - it helped change the conversation around our brand, and bring America together in the name of good fun.