SILVER: STARBURST

Client: STARBURST
Submitted By: Wrigley
Campaign Title: Starburst Contradictions

The Challenge:
Young adults like Starburst® fruit chews candy, but the candy category is extremely fragmented and staying on top by remaining “cool” and relying on brand loyalty is incredibly difficult. In late 2009 the brand attempted to connect with the target on an emotional level by launching the “It’s a Juicy Contradiction™” positioning to build a better connection with the target. We quickly found the contradiction to be that words alone could not connect the brand with young adults.

Digital Strategy:
We convinced MTV Networks to reinvent their now-faded “Unplugged®” music series as web-only content and challenge everything young people know about pop music production. In a new twist, we even asked performers to cover a popular song outside of their genre to create “the ultimate contradiction in music” that now meant something more than words to our target.

The Unplugged website and each episode also featured the Starburst brand logo and the content was seeded across all MTVN platforms including MTV, VH1 and CMT. Viacom even agreed to seed these videos to the artists’ labels, fan sites, music blogs and video sharing sites and Starburst brand 2.9 million-plus Facebook fans got an early look at the original content.

The “Unplugged”/Starburst content has become so popular that it is moving from the digital world to cable TV – yet another contradiction – and all without any additional spend.

Results:
Awareness of the Starburst brand and its “contradictions” positioning continues to increase. Users note that they like this new content and also like the Starburst brand involvement, showing how strong the partnership works. A majority of users say they would recommend this content to a friend, and the viral spread of the videos proves it-- with 1.4 million views to date.