MIKADO STICK

TitleMIKADO STICK
BrandMONDELÉZ
Product/ServiceMIKADO
Category D01. Use of Integrated Media
Entrant Company ROMANCE Paris, FRANCE
Advertising Agency ROMANCE Paris, FRANCE
Media Agency CARAT Coubevoie, FRANCE
Production Company STANDARD FILMS Paris, FRANCE
Credits
Name Company Position
Alexandre Hervé Romance Executive Creative Director
Alexander Kalchev Romance Executive Creative Director
Alexis Benbehe Romance Art Director/Copywriter
Pierre Mathonat Romance Art Director/Copywriter
Gautier Fage Romance Art Director/Copywriter
Julien Bon Romance Art Director/Copywriter
Sophie Mégrous Romance Agency Producer
Christophe Lichtenstein Romance Account Director
Marie-elise Archambaud Romance Account Manager
Anne-marie Gibert Romance Pr Director
Audrey Depommier Romance Communicty Manager
Romain Roux Romance Planner
Caroline Baume Mondelez Advertiser Supervisor
Romain Levy Standard Films Director
- Studio 5 Sound Production

Brief Explanation

Mikado is one of the top selling chocolate covered biscuit in France. The problem was that its popularity completely overshadowed Mikado King, the Mikado with twice as much chocolate. In order to relaunch the product and give its sales a boost, we needed to remind people how much they loved chocolate. So we did the unthinkable: we launched a mikado without chocolate, the mikado stick. Of course, the French started protesting against the new biscuit. And after three days of storm on social networks, in which we took part by answering all the unhappy consumers, we revealed where all the chocolate had gone : on the Mikado King. All the consumers we had fooled praised the brand for the risk it had taken.

Results and Effectiveness

- 2 million € of earned media - 12 million people reached - 16000 tweets mentioning the brand - More than 1 000 responses and 200 live creations produced in real time by our social media team, greatly increasing the engagement rate of the campaign (7% VS an average standard of 1 to 2% on Twitter; 13,5 VS 3 to 4% on Facebook) - 230 articles written about the operation - Several TV channels and radio stations in France relayed the campaign - Mikado King's sales increased by 30% - The campaign also had an effect on the brand's other products: The sales went up by 15% - Our French Mikado client became Mikado's Brand Manager for Europe

Creative Execution

The responsiveness of the media team took a huge part in the campaign's success by triggering all the different elements at the right moment. Day 1 : launch of Mikado Stick on Social networks. Billboards gave credibility Day 2 : 3 viral films were launched The hashtag #mikadostick was trending in France. Day 3 : counter Hashtag (#AMikadoWithoutChocolateIsAsDumbAs) was launched by one of France's biggest radio. Day 4, The reveal : Mikado Stick Boxes with Mikados King Choco inside were sent to major influencers discovering 'where all the chocolate had gone » and shared the news to all their followers - the campaign went viral again and stayed up for 3 days. New billboards and a final film were released.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Mikado is an iconic product in France. Touching this institution was going to create a huge outrage among Mikado fans. We couldn't afford a lot of paid media so we decided to make the announcement on Social Media and we used billboards displayed at strategic places in Paris and viral films to give credibility to the new product. People protesting on social networks were used as a leverage to get the attention of the mass media. After thousands of people started claiming the chocolate back, making the hashtag #mikadostick trending in France, Radio stations and TV channel started covering the story, making it even more viral. That's how we reached more than 12 million people.