Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hands

When a brand has been around for 75 years, re-branding can be a difficult challenge. By using current music trends and humor, M&M’s successfully turned their advertising highlight reel into one of my new favorite songs.

This particular piece of communication was effective in my opinion because it was purely for the intention of celebrating the brand and the people who love their chocolate. The 60 sec spot doesn’t push the product, but reminds viewers why M&M’s have become a staple in everybody’s Halloween bowls, school candy jars, and movie theater concessions stands.

I believe that BBDO NYC wanted to use this campaign to illustrate how M&M’s is timeless and can transition with cultural changes. There is a reason why people love listening to old music, flipping through a photo album, and reminiscing with old friends. Positive memories make people smile. Therefore, the true insight behind the campaign is making memories relevant again because everyone likes to be reminded of the “good ole’ times.”

I’m going to be honest, I mainly love this spot because I’ve become recently obsessed with remixes. And right after I heard this ad, I went and added the song on Spotify. So in my opinion, M&M’s campaign was extremely successful because every time I listen to this song I think of the candy that “melts in your mouth, not in your hand.” This ad resonates with me because it makes me feel good. I listen to up-beat music and eat unhealthy snacks for that very reason – both of them make my day better.

If I were to guess, the planning department at BBDO NYC ate a lot of M&M’s throughout their “research” process. Besides eating large quantities of chocolate, I believe that the planning department had to learn a great amount about why M&M’s is so iconic. Since the goal was to create a piece of communication purely to celebrate the brand, BBDO had to discover why consumers love this candy and the emotions associated with M&M’s.

While I loved this campaign, the remix concept may have a negative effect on possible consumers. First off, some viewers may not be fans of the brand and won’t have a nostalgic feeling when watching a highlight reel of their ads. Furthermore, an older crowd may be put off by the music genre of the advertisement and may not know Aloe Blacc and Zedd, the artists of the remix.

In my opinion, this campaign successfully made M&M’s cool again.