Skittles: Exclusive the Rainbow
Skittles tasked DDB Chicago with creating a Super Bowl campaign that would generate immense buzz and earned media without purchasing expensive broadcast airtime. The objective was to capture public attention and stand out amidst the crowded advertising landscape, proving innovation could trump traditional mass reach.
Creative Idea
Skittles made a Super Bowl ad exclusively for one superfan, generating massive earned media.
Skittles created an audacious Super Bowl campaign by producing a highly personalized commercial for a single superfan, Marcos Menendez. This counter-intuitive strategy generated 1.5 billion earned media impressions and widespread buzz, proving that extreme exclusivity can be more impactful than mass viewership.
The Super Bowl Ad That Nobody Saw
The $5 Million Disappearing Act
By refusing to buy a $5 million broadcast slot, Skittles and DDB Chicago executed a masterclass in "ambush marketing." The strategy relied on the psychological power of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). Instead of a traditional broadcast, the brand hosted a Facebook Live event where thousands of viewers watched a 17-year-old named Marcos Menendez react to the secret film. This "reaction culture" stunt generated 1.5 billion earned media impressions and over 437 articles in outlets like *TIME* and *Forbes*, effectively winning the Super Bowl conversation with a $0 media spend.
Infiltrating the Audience of One
The production, led by director Steve Ayson of MJZ, went to extreme lengths to personalize the film for Marcos. The crew secretly filmed inside Marcos’s actual home while he was at school, using his dining room and closet as sets. To heighten the surrealism, they cast Marcos’s real mother and best friend to star alongside David Schwimmer. The final 60-second cut featured Schwimmer in bizarre scenarios, including a scene where he used "laser eyes" to transform Marcos’s mother into a bag of Skittles.
Schwimmer and the Baffling Teasers
David Schwimmer signed on because he found the concept "inherently subversive." To keep the public guessing, the agency released four teaser ads featuring the *Friends* star in increasingly ridiculous costumes, including a 70s-style mustache and a long blonde wig. Ari Weiss, Chief Creative Officer at DDB, noted the irony of the timing: "The Super Bowl is the one time of year when the whole world is looking at advertising. We thought, what if we didn’t show it to them?"
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
Skittles possessed the creative audacity and marketing budget to execute a highly personalized, single-viewer Super Bowl commercial.
Category
The Super Bowl advertising category conventionally focused on maximizing viewership and spending millions for mass reach.
Customer
Audiences were jaded by conventional mass advertising, craving unique, authentic experiences and intrigued by audacious, exclusive concepts.
Culture
Contemporary culture valued unique, personalized experiences and stories that challenged established norms, amplified by social media's virality.
Company
Skittles possessed the creative audacity and marketing budget to execute a highly personalized, single-viewer Super Bowl commercial.
Category
The Super Bowl advertising category conventionally focused on maximizing viewership and spending millions for mass reach.
Strategy:
Leverage extreme exclusivity to generate widespread attention, redefining value beyond conventional mass reach.
Customer
Audiences were jaded by conventional mass advertising, craving unique, authentic experiences and intrigued by audacious, exclusive concepts.
Culture
Contemporary culture valued unique, personalized experiences and stories that challenged established norms, amplified by social media's virality.
Strategy:
Leverage extreme exclusivity to generate widespread attention, redefining value beyond conventional mass reach.
Results
The campaign generated 1.5 billion earned media impressions. It was listed as one of "The best 2018 Super Bowl commercials" by TIME. It was also recognized as one of "The Top 10 buzziest commercials of Super Bowl 2018" by BUSINESS INSIDER. Forbes stated, "Skittles does a genius end-around on Super Bowl advertising." Crucially, $0 was spent on the Super Bowl broadcast itself.
1.5 Billion
earned media impressions
$0
spent on Super Bowl broadcast
Top 10
buzziest Super Bowl commercials
Strategy Technique
Flip the Conventional Wisdom
The campaign directly challenged the Super Bowl advertising norm of maximizing viewership by creating an ad for an audience of one. This counter-intuitive approach generated massive earned media and cultural conversation.
Explore Technique
Creative Technique
Customize and personalize
Skittles went to "ridiculous lengths" to customize the ad for Marcos, featuring his doppelganger, mom, and best friend, even filming in his house. This extreme personalization made the campaign uniquely impactful and newsworthy.
Explore Technique
Craft Breakdown
The campaign's craft was exceptional in producing a hyper-personalized Super Bowl commercial for a single individual, meticulously designed and filmed with bespoke elements, while simultaneously crafting engaging teaser ads and an innovative media strategy that leveraged exclusivity for massive earned media.
The innovative media strategy of creating an exclusive Super Bowl commercial for an audience of one redefined broadcast advertising, generating unprecedented earned media without a traditional ad buy.
The meticulous creation of personalized settings for Marcos's ad, including filming in his home and integrating family members, alongside the bizarre environments for the David Schwimmer teasers, showcased outstanding visual execution.
The clever and intriguing scripts for the viral David Schwimmer teaser ads, coupled with the unique, personalized tagline for Marcos's exclusive commercial, were expertly crafted to drive curiosity and engagement.
David Schwimmer's committed and versatile performances in the teaser campaign were pivotal in generating early buzz and establishing the campaign's eccentric tone, complementing the authentic reactions captured for Marcos's ad.
The campaign's brilliance stemmed from the symbiotic relationship between the highly personalized creative execution and the groundbreaking media strategy, amplifying earned media through exclusivity.
