SNICKERS: Who Are You When You Are Hungry?
It’s a good habit to learn from past experience and inspiration. When I was a young girl who loved sweets, Snickers was my favorite chocolate bar brand. Every time I ate it, I always felt that I become a better version of myself. This is because of Snickers’ classic commercial that is rooted deep inside my subconscious. Looking back now, Snickers not only gave me a sweet childhood but also taught me what outstanding and fun advertising is.
The video that influenced me was a worldwide campaign from Snickers, “You are not yourself when you are hungry.” It first started in 2010 and became one of the most successful campaigns in the past decade or even more.
In its first year, sales increased by 15.9%; after two years, they increased by $376 million.
Let’s look at the original version of this campaign that was first launched in the 2010 Super Bowl.
When it was launched in China, they combined Chinese culture and came up with videos that could engage well with Chinese people. The following is my favorite.
The female image in the ad, Daiyu Lin, is a famous character in the ancient Chinese classic novel Dream of Red Mansions. She is the representative of females who are weak and sentimental.
The big idea is similar for both the US version and the Chinese version. When people are hungry, they don’t perform at their best. You are not yourself when you are hungry. So who will you become? You might become someone weak unless you take a bit at snickers. This campaign has been an example when we learn about developing big ideas. Snickers widened its target audience. Based on consumer insight, when people are hungry, they don’t perform well. This was a simple insight but can relate deeply with people worldwide. Snickers used its brand connection to solve the problem consumers face daily, as well as develop brand uniqueness and differed from competitors. Before that, chocolate brands mostly market their products with the concepts like gifts and romance. It was very clever for Snickers to connect themselves with satisfying hunger.
Besides being a good example of the big idea, this campaign is also fun to watch and easy to spread. It pushed the message, Snickers’ core brand selling point, with a great sense of humor. Video ads like these will catch audiences’ attention instead of annoying them. At that time, the videos were played on TV. Now, they are more posted and forwarded on social media and video apps. Also, the story of Snickers kept developing based on the idea of “You are not yourself when you are hungry” over the years. Not only you will become someone weak, but also someone impatient or unfiltered. The video “You are unfiltered when you are hungry” posted by Snickers’ official account on YouTube 9 months ago has gained 127K views and various positive comments. It was successful because of its great sense of humor, and of course, the same brand story of Snickers’ brand has always been telling the audience repetitively.
After the huge success of the campaign, Snickers went further in the digital marketing world.
Another promotional strategy Snickers has used is direct and digital marketing. This strategy can be seen with the “Hungerithm” Snickers employed in Australia. As more people outraged got online, the price of Snickers at the convenience stores got cheaper. This involved a direct engagement between the company and its customers, allowing them to decide at what price they could buy the Snickers. This activity resulted in a sales jump of 67 percent across the country.
Though the methods and channels have changed dramatically over the years, the key message of a brand that wants to communicate to the audience should maintain. How will Snickers continue to surprise the marketing world as well as its audiences in the developing digital era, time will tell the story.
