The ‘90s were a time of invention and exploration. From Beanie Babies to Super Soakers, it’s hard to deny the nostalgia of this throwback decade. Before the ‘90s ended, M&M’s debuted a new product of its own—Crispy M&M’s, a chocolate covered wafer packed with crunch. However, in 2005, Crispy M&M’s were shelved, discontinued from the big candy company’s line of sweets. With the debut of M&M’s latest ad though, it looks like Crispy is back, and consumers couldn’t be more thrilled. The ad, “Not That Fan,” earned high marks, taking home both Ad of the Week titles of Category Overachiever and Highest Ace Score.
Yellow and Red star in M&M’s new, humorous spot announcing the re-release of Crispy M&M’s. Consumers awarded “Not That Fan” an Ace Score of 645, which is 15% higher than the Candy & Gum 12-month category norm. While the ad is only 15 seconds long, the crunchy candies are able to grab consumer attention while also delivering information.
Those consumers who remember the ‘90s best rated the ad the highest with women ages 36-49 giving the ad an Ace Score of 698 while men ages 36-49 gave the ad a score of 664. Perhaps not surprisingly, consumers ages 16-20 scored the ad the lowest as nostalgia likely did not play a part in how they rated the ad.
Thirty percent of consumers agreed that the best thing about the ad were the M&M’s characters. However, the ad’s product also got a fair amount of attention with 26% of consumers indicating the M&M’s candies were the best part of the ad.
As we saw in M&M’s Super Bowl ad last year, the famous candy is one of America’s most beloved brands. This is easily seen in “Not That Fan” as well as 18% of the 314 optional comments mention how much they “love” the candy, the ad and the characters. Another 18% also remarked on how “funny” the ad is.
Mars can count “Not That Fan” as a win for its flagship candy brand. The combination of lovable characters, humor and a nostalgic product brought strong breakthrough scores all-around.
Watch this year’s winning Ads of the Week by Category Overachievers.
Want to look back to 2014? Watch the winning Category Overachievers from 2014.
Watch this year’s winning Ads of the Week by Ace Score.
Want to look back to 2014? Watch the winning Ads of the Week with the highest Ace Scores from 2014.
