Title	MIKADO STICK
Brand	MONDELÉZ
Product/Service	MIKADO
Category	A09. Launch or re-launch
Entrant Company	ROMANCE Paris, FRANCE
Advertising Agency	ROMANCE Paris, FRANCE
Media Agency	CARAT Coubevoie, FRANCE
Production Company	STANDARD FILMS Paris, FRANCE

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

The Campaign

The Mikado King Choco has twice as more chocolate than the Classic Mikado. To convince people that they would love it, we simply got rid of the best part of the Classic Mikado : the chocolate. So we launched a fake product : Mikado Stick (the first Mikado without chocolate). And we got what we wanted : a huge bad buzz, leading people to tell how much they love chocolate and claim it back. They were followed by some famous medias such as TV Channels and Radio Stations, and a lot of blogs and news sites. The reveal was done by sending fake Mikado Sticks boxes filled with Mikado Kings to a base of bloggers and every influential media who reacted to the Mikado Stick earlier.

The Brief

How do we re-launch this product? It has everything the Classic Mikado has, plus twice as more chocolate which make it twice as more lovable. People should realize how much they loved to have chocolate on their Mikados, and how much they could love the Mikado King.

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 announced on Social networks. Billboards gave credibility to the new product. The social media team and the creatives began working together on answering everybody on Twitter and Facebook. Day 2 : 3 viral films were launched, keeping the conversation up. The hashtag #mikadostick was trending in France. Day 3 : A 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. They were the first to « know where all the chocolate had gone » and shared the news to all their followers. New billboards and a final film were released on Internet. Thanks to the reveal, the campaign went viral again and stayed up for 3 days.

- 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 - 2 wedding proposals were made to our Community Manager

The Strategy

In France, everybody knows and loves Mikado because of its unique shape and its chocolate but no one knows the product : Mikado King (twice as more chocolate). To create conversations around the campaign we targeted a connected audience who are by the way our clients : the youngsters. We knew they would react with passion if we got rid of the chocolate. The idea was to create a bad buzz, let the media take over the subject. Next, we would put these media in the confidence and let them do the reveal.