Fashion Marketing Communication and

Social Media Marketing

Assignment - II

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Mr. Pratik Gosh Antarleena Sikdar

MFM - III

2014-16

National Institute of Fashion Technology, Bangalore

Snickers- the brand

Snickers was introduced by the founder of Mars, Inc., Frank Mars. The snickers candy bars

were introduced in 1930. The name "Snickers" came from the name came from the Mars

families favourite horse, whom was also named Snickers. A Snickers bar is about 2.07 oz.

has about 280 calories and about 130 calories from fat. Frank C. Mars and his wife Ethyl

Mars created the largest confectionery company in the world. They originally sold the

Snickers bar in England and Ireland. The candy was not named Snickers; it was called the

"Marathon" bar. In 1990, Mars changed its name to Snickers. This change moved the candy

bar from ninth to third place in popularity. In 2000, Snickers became the most popular selling

candy bar in the world and the best selling candy bar in history and had yearly worldwide

sales of $2 billion. 

The product:

It consists of chewy nougat topped with caramel and peanut, dipped in milk chocolate. Frank

Mars created the first Snickers Bar by putting a chocolate coating on a caramel, peanut

nougat candy that was already being sold and created on the market. The name "Snickers"

came from the name came from the Mars families favorite horse, whom was also named

Snickers. A Snickers bar is about 2.07 oz. has about 280 calories and about 130 calories from

fat. Frank C.

The campaign:

The Snicker's advertisements focus on the message, "You're not you when you're hungry."

This quote has become the main slogan for Snickers along with "Snickers Satisfies." The

campaign "You're not you when you're hungry" was first launched in 2010 and is still used

today.  This campaign has brought the Snickers brand back on in the good light of critics after

a couple of failed ads in 2007 that were deemed to homophobic.

The situation prior:

Prior to the “You’re not you when you’re hungry‟ campaign Snickers advertising was not

getting a good reputation. A Super Bowl commercial feature two men kissing, thanks to

eating a Snickers bar from opposite end, was pulled following complaints from gay rights

groups . This showed that the publicity Snickers was getting from the commercial was

negative which no company wants to receive. Snickers did not stop there however and the

following year got more backlash, for a commercial that aired in the U.K.. The commercial

featuring Mr. T. attacking a male speed walker with Snicker bars while shouting “you’re a

disgrace to the man race” was pulled because gay rights activist from the U.S. complained.

This showed that even though the commercial never aired in the U.S. it still affected the

brands image in the country. This negative reputation help competing candy bars rise in sales

faster than the iconic candy bar once known for satisfying hunger.

The problem:

So the major problem was that there were eight different ad campaigns running around the

world but none of them focused on what had made Snickers a strong competitor to begin

with- that it satisfied hunger.

The new campaign:

Snickers needed to get back to its roots and to become relevant again. To do this Snickers

returned to BBDO, the ad agency who had previously done “Hungry? Why wait?”, “Don’t let

hunger happen to you” and “Snickers Satisfies” campaigns.

 By returning to BBDO, Snickers knew that they would be working with an ad agency that

understood their brand image.

BBDO found out that is always a universal code of conduct that needs to be abided by in

order to stay part of the male pack. There are certain universal symptoms of hunger that can

make a guy not keeping to that code of conduct. As a proper, nut-filled bar SNICKERS can

sort out that hunger and restore his place.

BBDO took this knowledge to create advertisements that made it appear that hungry men

were not a part of the group. They usually did this by having them portrayed by females when

they were hungry, as according to their idea, females are physically weak than males and are

always complaining.

Besides just having a campaign that would not be offensive Snickers wanted a campaign that

could be global. To do this Snickers wanted a campaign that was able to adapt to different

market without losing the message or local appeal. This meant that the message had to be

simple and to point. 

So they came up with the campaign tagline, “You’re not you when you are hungry.”

Through the various ads it was showcased how men act when they are hungry.

The first ad came out during the Super Bowl in 2010, after that till today different ads from

this campaign have rolled in 56 different countries, having different celebrities and contests

for different country people.

The first ad:

The first commercial from this campaign was seen during the 2010 SuperBowl. This gives a

great deal of insight into who Snickers is targeting in their commercial. The average viewer

of the Super Bowl is a male between the ages of 18 and 45. Theses male have an idea what it

means to be part of a pack of men that play football and the rules that would be expected to

be a part of this pack. Betty White is featured in this commercial as an old whiney woman

who is not able to keep up with the pace of the game or catch the football. She is hit to the

ground landing in a puddle of mud after failing to make a catch. As she is lying in the mud a

look of disgust is across her face and she looks like as if she is on the verge of tears.

Surprisingly she gets up and returns to the huddle where the quarter back says “Mike you’re

playing like Betty White out there”

This is where the audience first learns that Betty White is not really out there playing football

but it is some guy named Mike who in his normal state could fit in with the pack.

 At this time Mike’s girlfriend comes running up and offers Mike a Snickers bar. Still

portrayed as Betty White, Mike opens the Snickers and takes a bite which magically turns

him back to his normal self. His girlfriend ask him if he’s better which he replies “better”

before returning to the game. The game continues but now the quarterback is hungry and is

seen as an old man before being sacked.

The words “You’re not you when you’re hungry” are shown and read and the commercial

end with the candy car being shown along with the Snickers logo with satisfies underneath it.

The response:

They received an Effie award in 2011 for their first television spot featuring Betty

White.

After launching this campaign at the Super Bowl XLIV, the Betty White commercial

was awarded the Number 1 spot of USA Today’s Admeter, making the campaign an

immediate success.

Sales grew more than 13% and BBDO New York doubled their goal of aggressive

household penetration reversal.

They increased relevance across adults 18 to 49 by creating excitement surrounding

the campaign and earned millions of unpaid media impressions. 

Other famous ads from the campaign:

There were many other ads that came up after the first one. For example, the Horseless

Headsman ad that was released in the context of Halloween, the football coach ad featuring

Robin Williams etc.

Other celebrities who have appeared in the ads include Aretha Franklin, Liza Minnelli, Abe

Vagoda, Richard Lewis, Roseanne Barr, Joe Pesci and Don Rickles, Mexican singer Anahí

and UK celebrities, Joan Collins and Stephanie Beachem etc.

Print ads of the campaign:

The Campaign In additional to television commercials, this Snickers campaign also included

a print element. “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” print ads were designed to look like

mock celebrity endorsement ads featuring former NFL players Jerome Bettis and Joe

Theismann. Both ads showed magazine readers the NFL players endorsing ridiculous fake

products on the left side of the ad. On the right side of the ad there was an apology statement

asking readers to disregard the previous ad because they made bad decisions when they were

hungry.

The campaign in India:

The first ad:

In India the campaign was launched on 23 December, 2012 and the Indian adaptation

featured actors Rekha (in her first television commercial) and Urmila Matondkar,

Conceptualised by RK Swamy BBDO and directed by Bollywood director Imtiaz Ali.

The TVC is based on the insight that hunger makes people weak, affecting their behaviour

and people around them. The TVC shows boys in a car headed to play cricket. One of them

behaves like a ‘heroine’ - personified by Rekha. One of the boys gives ‘Rekha’ a Snickers

bar, and ‘Rekha’ returns to his original form. A voice over then says, Kyunki hunger Acche

Acchon Ko Badal Deta Hai. Similarly, on arriving at the ground, the boy driving the car turns

into Urmila Matondkar, throwing a tantrum that he has to park the car. Another bar of

Snickers is called for.

Viability:

The TVC is present across 56 television channels and nine languages.

The second ad:

In 2014, November 29, another ad was launched starring Sonam Kapoor.

The film begins with a shot of a jeep crawling up a hill as a voice is heard saying, “Come on

guys, push”. The film cuts to the driver who is asking everyone to put in a little more effort as

they push the car up the hill. The film then cuts to the back of the car as Sonam Kapoor is

seen standing up as she screams in agony. She complains about how her hands have been

burnt and refuses to push any more. As she walks away, the friends wonder what is wrong.

As tensions rise, the friends begin to banter amongst themselves. Before things can escalate,

one friend stops everything and gives Sonam Kapoor a Snickers bar stating that, ‘Rocky’

becomes a heroine whenever he is hungry. As soon as Sonam Kapoor bites into the bar, we

see Rocky has once again become himself.

The film ends with a super that reads, “Hungry, Grab a Snickers” 

Viability:

The ad was aired across 57 television channels and 7 languages.

Analysis of the campaign:

Target audience

Young male adults age 13–35/40

The audience has been segmented based upon demographics (gender).

The male audience is appropriate for this product because they are relevant to the product and

conform to Snickers’ brand heritage. The brand image itself is chock full of intangible

masculine elements within its brand identity: dark colors, bold type, patriotism in the color

scheme etc.

Besides, generally, everyone has experienced the feeling of hunger and there are universal

symptoms that are associated with hunger such as an inability to focus, lack of concentration,

lethargy, irritability, and crankiness. Everyone knows someone who turns into a very

different person when they’re hungry. Feeling off your game or acting like a completely

different person when you’re hungry is a highly relatable situation for both men and women

of all ages.

Media strategy:

The message is simply, “You’re Not You When you’re Hungry” exaggerating through

hyperbole to generate an emotional response.

The campaign uses integrated marketing communications to reach maximum

audience through traditional and contemporary media channels.

According to Kantar Media, Mars Chocolate North America spent $44.8 million on

television ads for Snickers in the first nine months of 2012. The weakness of using

television as the key media component for the campaign was that television is much

more difficult to measure than digital strategies or even some print strategies which

were easily measured through the use of coupons. The benefit of using television is

that is has the highest reach. Since the goal of this campaign was to make Snickers

“famous” by reaching as many people as possible, television was an appropriate

venue for this objective.

Over the same nine months in 2012, Mars Chocolate spent $15.9 million to advertise

in magazines. While this is significantly less than the amount that they spent on

television ads, it is still a larger fraction of their media buy than most comparative

companies. Mars Chocolate North America has always believed in print as an ad

medium which is why they allocate a larger portion of their budget to print than most

of their competitors. This is reinforced by the fact that they only spent one forth of

their print budget to advertise on the internet. Mars spent $3.6 millions advertising

online in the same nine months in 2012. There were also some small amounts spent

on newspaper ads but Kantar media did not disclose the exact figure.

In addition to paid media, Mars invested in owned media for the campaign as well.

The Snickers website encourages customers to engage with them on social media by

showcasing feeds from the Snicker’s Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube channels. The

company is very active on social media and has over 11,000 followers on Twitter, just

under 1,000,000 views on their YouTube channel and a whopping 9.8 million fans on

Facebook. Media Strategy This campaign also received lots of earned media,

especially from the advertising community. Industry blogs such as AdWeek regularly

write about the campaign when a new element is released and they even received an

Effie award in 2011 for their first television spot featuring Betty White. 

The strategy is effective in appealing to changing attitude, as it evokes an emotional response

of humour in the audience.

The purpose of the TV ads are to create something so memorable, the product is able to get

into the consumer’s long-term evoked set.

Television is extremely useful in reaching the campaigns target audience: for example, the

super bowl followers when the first ad was released.

Out of home ads

Out-Of-Home advertisements are focused on marketing to consumers when they are “on the

go” in public places, in transit, waiting, or in shopping.

• OOH advertising formats fall into three main categories: billboards, street furniture (such as

benches, lamps, walls), and transit (bus stations, train stations, airports).

• Snickers OOH campaign is effective because it triggers a behavioural response. These ads

are a way to reach people, and remind them that there is something fun and beneficial to mind

close-by.

• OOH is very beneficial for reaching people, but tends to reach a broader audience

Product positioning strategies

Functional: Snickers’ positions use problem solving framework (you’re hungry, slow, tired

and loopy, Snickers solves that problem), and a benefit framework (Snickers provides a key

benefit to these people to feel normal and on-the-ball).

Symbolic: Belongingness and social meaningfulness: Snickers uses its functional positions to

appeal to the male desire to belong to a pack and be socially accepted. When you are hungry,

you jeopardize your social common sense and risk your status as a member of a male pack.

Idea analysis:

Snickers is a brand that values being fun, active, social and funny. The brand campaign

shows these values by appealing to their audience through humor and the simple message,

“you’re not you when you’re hungry”.

They wanted to show that Snickers can be marketed as a meal replacement bar, as well as a

candy bar. Snickers is there for you those instances when you’re not on the ball, and need

something to satisfy your hunger, raise your blood sugar and make you feel like “you” again.

The campaign promises to help you focus by curing hunger, no matter the situation.

Message and elements

• Humour is a main appeal within this campaign to get the big idea across to Snickers’ target

audience.

• The use of overly dramatic situations and exaggeration personifies the concept that being

hungry leads to funny situations, and is the effective framework utilized in the campaign.

• Within Snickers’ print campaign, simple layouts in the color brown and a straightforward

message “You’re not you when you’re hungry”

• Key graphic elements present, along with an illustration that frames the message and get’s

the campaign’s point across in a way that’s easy to visualize.

Campaign objective

Since most people are already familiar with the Snickers brand, the goal of this campaign was

not brand awareness but rather to deliver “brand fame.” When a consumer walks into a store,

there is always a number of other bars to choose from so the goal of brand fame was to make

Snickers the most important bar on the shelf.

Because it portrayed itself not just as any candy bar but as something that satisfies hunger and

that makes it different from the rest.

Media success

• The campaign generated a large amount of earned media and press, as well as unpaid media

impressions.

• They evoked a large and powerful response which created an awareness of the campaign so

strong among viewers that seeing other advertisements from the campaign create an instant

connection to the emotional response from the commercials.

• The commercials were so successful; they penetrated pop culture, finding their way into

unpaid media outlets such as political cartoons and Saturday Night Live.

Results • After three months of the campaign, Snickers reversed declining sales, and

increased volume sales by 8% and single-sales by 13.4% • There was an 18,000% increase

in the search for “Snickers” on Youtube, with the commercials views on Youtube exceeding

over 20 million hits.

Controversies:

Though the campaign tasted success from the very beginning, it was not free from

controversies. The fact that a weak and hungry man was portrayed as a woman could be

offending as it is meaning to show that women are weaker and always nagging and creating

unnecessary drama.

They realised it along the way and later released an ad featuring Robin Williams where it

shows how an effeminate white comedian changes into a tough, African American head

coach after having a Snickers.  this advertisement is unlike its predecessors; previous

ads showed that without a Snickers, a male would turn into a female. The commercial

has somewhat stepped away from the gender implications that were originally playing off

the stereotype that women complain a lot and that they are not as strong as men. 

The print ad that first appeared in men’s magazines did not do much better. One blogger

suggested that the print ads lacked inspiration and seemed dull. These ads had to be turned

upside down to see the message and appeared quickly thrown together. Snickers took the

criticism for their print ads and then released the aforementioned ads featuring Jerome Bettis

and Joe Theismann. 

Conclusion

Overall, Snickers does prove the meaning that it satisfies throughout the use of ads and

commercials. Sports and Celebrities played a great factor in increasing popularity for the

candy bar. Snickers unique way advertising with comedy definitely helped it become a

memorable commercial advertiser. "You're not you when you are hungry" has created

meaning and questioning all over the world. Through the increase of sales and popularity of

the snickers candy bar we see that Snickers truly does satisfy.

For BBDO New York, the largest measure of success was when they saw a political cartoon

about the healthcare debate where President Obama shouted at Nancy Pelosi, “You’re

playing like Betty White out there!” For BBDO New York, this reference to their campaign

confirmed that they had truly infiltrated pop culture, making the Snickers brand famous and

securing their position as the world’s biggest chocolate bar.

Link for advertisements:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18ya0-OZ58s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BPLR9l0CYA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLDZ-gAKbqo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf39vt0MKug

Bibliography:

http://static1.squarespace.com/static/54ef7ebbe4b03f072874cb08/t/

552606c6e4b0256f7f4cc886/1428555462995/

SNICKERS_R_Macausland_K_LaCour.pdf

https://prezi.com/h0_wlf8buu1x/ad-analysis/

https://loyolasummer.wordpress.com/2013/06/19/snickers-coach-ad-analysis/

http://snickersad.blogspot.in/

http://www.academia.edu/6272495/Snickers