The Context: Snickers had recently undergone a rebrand, identifying the bar as a snack for men, rather than a candy bar. Unfortunately, Snickers had seen a 7% decrease in sales in the last year. Moreover, they had seen a 7.7% decrease in sales for their "fun sized bar" alone, a product that was heavily consumed by women.
Snickers has been leveraging the concept that "you're not you when you're hungry" for years now. Why did it work so well? BECAUSE IT'S TRUE! Well, the fact that streaming has become especially popular is also true. People stream everything: movies, TV, music, etc. And because of today’s technology, we can do all of it across all of our devices. BUT. It comes at a price. Sometimes that price is $4 a month, $10 a month, $15 a month, or in the form of having to suffer through ads.
Through our primary research, we found that people are most frustrated with ads while streaming music, compared to movies, TV, and other video content. They don't care about a 30-second ad when they're settling in to watch a 30-minute to 2-hour film. There's so much more on the line when they're listening to music. People are playlist makers and they anticipate the next song to come. No one anticipates that the Red Hot Chilli Peppers had just changed the intro of Dani California to: "did you know you could save 15% or more on car insurance?" What if they NEED their music to get through the day? The worst part is that they used to have access to these things without having to pay for it. Now they feel like they're getting screwed.
That's Right! An Ad Agency Fighting Ads! There is an opportunity to rescue consumers, by getting rid of the advertisements in their daily lives. Advertisements are becoming more invasive and more disruptive. They are everywhere, especially within the streaming platform. Imagine an ad starting shouting at you through your computer as you started to read this sentence(we actually interrupted ourselves with an ad during this part of the presentation). It creates this sobering feeling that snaps you back into reality, and even more than that: a reality you don't want to be in right now. Snickers has an opportunity to build upon their brand identity of relief, which was created by their "You're Not You When You're Hungry Campaign," in a unique way. Getting rid of advertisements within music streaming. It's a rescue mission.
Snickers can use the dissonance and frustration caused by ad-filled streaming, as well as their current brand message that argues that the candy bar quenches hunger to leverage the brand as the snack that rebels against unwelcome intruders. Music time is an escape and Snickers wants to prolong that sweetness as long as possible.
One problem that came up was the fact that people don't really eat while streaming music; they eat while streaming TV or movies. However, what are people going to think of when stopping for gas on the way home from work? According to our research, this is the time where consumption peaked among big candy brands. Moreover, our research showed that people like things they can grab a handful of or indulge in (including meals) while streaming TV and movies. If the Snickers brand is associated with rescue and relief, that feeling could transfer over into other streaming platforms where people are eating the most.