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M&M's pours £1.4m into digital to push new chocolate bar range in UK

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By Imogen Watson, Senior reporter

September 12, 2019 | 4 min read

M&M's has launched a £1.4m digital campaign to push its latest venture - a chocolate bar version of its colourful 'm' printed chocolates.

M&M's

M&M's

M&M's anthropomorphised chocolate characters - known only by their colours - have become almost as famous as the chocolate itself. The brainchild of BBDO in 1995, the characters were introduced to revitalise the brand when momentum flatlined.

With BBDO still at the creative helm, it has created a major campaign for M&M's to promote its new chocolate bar range, with Red (chocolate), Yellow (peanut), Green (hazelnut) and Orange (crispy) each having their own bar. As part of the digital push, a suite of over 50 digital assets featuring the characters stuck in the chocolate have been created.

Alongside the digital assets created in conjunction with CLM BBDO Paris, M&M's has resurfaced a film called 'Bad Passengers' that launched across the US earlier this year. Adapted for a UK audience, it sees the characters getting up to typical comic mischief. As a woman drives along in her car, she is disturbed by unruly behaviour in her back seat.

"Alright guys, that enough," she says into the rear mirror. "Don't put his foot in your face. Do I have to break you guys apart?" - alluding to the idea that it is her children messing around in the back.

As they continue to fight amongst themselves off-camera, the driver puts her foot on the break and turns to the back seat to say "if you don't stop, I'm going to eat all of you alive" and it becomes clear that the noise is coming from the M&M characters Red, Yellow and Orange, who are all stuck in a chocolate bar.

The campaign will launch across social media and digital out of home – supported by influencer campaigns and a brand partnership with LADbible.

Discussing the campaign, Cordelia Linacre, M&M’s senior brand manager, said: “M&M’s Bars is a massive launch for us this year so it was only fitting we went big with this campaign. Including the adapted ‘Bad Passengers’, we have over 50 new assets specifically designed for each social platform and algorithm – while also capturing the fun and playfulness of our distinctive M&M’s characters.

"We feel our diverse range of creatives is the perfect way to introduce M&M’s biggest product launch of the decade to consumers, while simultaneously highlighting our continued investment in digital.”

Adding to this, Anaïs Courbez, account director, CLM BBDO said: “M&M’s Bars was an exciting creative opportunity for the team which we knew we could have some fun with.

"To amplify the campaign across the UK, we leveraged the ‘Bad Passengers’ advert produced by our global team, which featured the characters stuck in a chocolate bar, to build on the story of the characters’ situation further across digital platforms and highlight this new and tasty way to enjoy M&M’s.”

M&M'S: M&M's Bar by CLM BBDO

By M&M'S

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