Published on
August 14, 2024
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Welcome to the Breakdown, a weekly roundup of the best real-life marketing examples, created for marketers and agency folk that want to create work that actually works.
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In this Breakdown, we're looking at ✨ family marketing ✨ - that lovely, nostalgic, slightly twee advertising for long-loved products that needs to sell to both kids and adults.
Warning - this is not a Breakdown for the cool, edgy marketer.
But they never clarify whether they’re innies or outies.
In this ad, titled “Put a little Pom in your day”, a young girl realises that Pom-Bears, the beloved bear-shaped crisps, have belly buttons. Which means they can belly dance. Which the girl and her dad proceed to do.
My main confusion lies in the girl’s absolutely fallacious logic. You need a belly to belly dance, but do you need a belly button?
Anyway, I think this is ad is smart, if you look beyond this bit of weirdness. Think about what the brief might have said - “Look, people love Pom-Bears. When they eat them. The problem is that, unless kids specifically want a bear-shaped crisp, we’re not standing out for anything.”
Righty ho, let’s give them a reason. No matter how strange.
It’s the marketing equivalent of realising you’re breathing. Pom-Bears have a belly button? Shit, I’ve got to check this out.
Any work in-market for Pom-Bears had to do something like this - build some reason to get kids and young families to remember the brand and have some specific, if bizarre, reason to choose the bears over another. And I quite like it. I think Iris have managed to build in the right amount of weirdness in an ad that, since it is targeting young families, has to be pretty vanilla. It’s like watching a kids’ TV show as an adult. You realise how truly odd - even disturbing - it is, but the general sweetness and softness of them makes them feel very reassuring.
This is even weirder than the Pom-Bears ad.
In this new campaign, Soreen has become “your squidgy little pick me up”, featuring a brand new brand character called Malty. It’s a Soreen loaf with a face, is on the odd side of cute, and sings.
This squidginess seems like a key selling point. It was the basis of a bit of work by the brand back in 2017, where a few cinema ads asked audiences “are you a squidgy bit Soreen?” And it’s the tagline that rings out at the end of this ad.
But really, it’s exactly like the Pom-Bears’ belly button. It doesn’t matter. People don’t use squidginess as a purchase heuristic. But they could use it as a Soreen shortcut.
It’s the “Hotel? Trivago” idea in essence. See a thing, think another thing.
Pom-Bears? Crisps with belly buttons.
Soreen? Squidgy.
Soreen’s MD said, “Our goal was to create a memorable ad campaign that puts Soreen back at the heart of contemporary British culture.” A noble mission for sure, but Soreen isn’t at the heart of any contemporary culture. Creating a memorable ad, however, is not just achievable - it’s effective. People buy brands that come to mind readily. If Soreen comes to mind because you remember a strange TV spot that kept using the word “squidge”, then you might be more likely to buy it. It’s all very simple, but I like how TBWA\MCR did keep things simple. Malt loaf, children’s crisps - they don’t need a “creative strategy” or a “platform” or a “vehicle”. They need something to talk about, related to their products, that people will remember.
A bit more stereotypical, white-bread, family-oriented than the others.
In this ad, Jammie Dodgers are the source of inspiration for a water fight between a family. Instigated by two daughters, won by a grandma.
Jammie Dodgers have a history with mischief. They’ve been the naughty biscuit for a while, which as a brand is an incredibly fun space to be in. They never have to apologise to parents for being a sugary snack because they’re already ‘apologising’ for something else - and that something is lighthearted and fun. Mildly riotous kids (but not Dennis The Menace-level) and happy families playing together, united by slightly disappointing, not-enough-jam-inside biscuits.
However, this is the first time in a decade that Jammie Dodgers have been on TV, and you have to wonder if the reason for all three of these brands launching new campaigns isn’t a need to push closer to their audience’s front of mind. Back in 2009, Jammie Dodgers were kids favourite biscuit. But now, there are sexier, sweeter brands on shelves these days (even if they are brands who don’t have the same 60 years of heritage). Families might buy one? two? three? packs of sugary stuff a week for their kids. Winning that portion of the weekly shop is hotly contested, and Jammie Dodgers continue to rely on this familiar concept of mischief that is so fondly remembered by many.
It would be bizarre and wrong for Jammie Dodgers to try to be anything besides what they are. They’re not cool or trendy or avant garde or edgy. They’re loved by kids, parents remember them fondly, and they’re the ones who need to be sold to here.
And it stands for Mini.
That’s right, the tiny chocolate treats are getting even smaller with a new product launch.
This is the first time M&M’s Minis are launching in Europe, apparently (which I suppose means the US has had them for a few years). And the work to launch them is so so good.
Focusing completely on the mini aspect, the brand launched with some OOH work in Paris, featuring mini athletes next to tiny posters, and a TV ad that shrinks as you watch it. Truly, a marriage of creative and media.
The TV ad, which aired in the UK, still uses the slightly disturbing M&Ms characters - those gigantic M&Ms brought to life with Sesame Street-style voices. These things have been around since 1999, and they have always appealed to both kids and adults. The giant, cartoonish, walking talking candies are fun for kids, and their witty, often sarcastic comments are funny for adults. Every ad is like a slightly off-kilter Disney movie - the undeniably best format that appeals to kids and adults.
Unlike the other ads in this Breakdown, this M&M’s campaign has that whiff of advertising craft. The others feel somewhat functional next to this one (no bad thing, by the way), and I think it might be because M&M’s marketers have made their lives easier over the past two decades. These characters are well-known, and the constant spend from M&M’s (compared to the others at least) means that every new iteration can build on the last. Jammie Dodgers meanwhile, who haven’t been on TV for 10 years, can only build on the UK’s ambient perceptions towards the brand. It’s a great case study for why consistent marketing not only delivers results, but makes all the new work you do more effective too.