2017 Glass: The Award for Change

LIGHT SIDE OF DISABILITY

TitleLIGHT SIDE OF DISABILITY
BrandMARS CHOCOLATE
Product/ServiceMALTESERS
Category A01. Glass
Entrant AMVBBDO London, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation AMVBBDO London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production BISCUIT FILMWORKS London, UNITED KINGDOM
Credits
Name Company Position
Paul Brazier AMVBBDO Chief Creative Officer
Adrian Rossi AMVBBDO Executive Creative Director
Alex Grieve AMVBBDO Executive Creative Director
Tim Riley AMVBBDO Creative Director
Dave Buchanan AMVBBDO Creative Director
Lizzie Mabbott AMVBBDO Agency Producer
CLAY WEINER Biscuit Films Director
TOBY COURLANDER Biscuit Films Production Company Producer
GARETH MCEWAN Speade Editor
Ben Gulvin 750MPH Sound Engineer

Creative Execution

The 2016 Maltesers campaign caused a shift in the communications industry by shaking up the traditional portrayal of disabled people. Where previous communications have typically marginalised those with disabilities as objects of pity or of admiration, Maltesers showed that they can be silly, hilarious and authentic people who laugh at the daily ups and downs of life. The suite of all three films initially ran across UK TV channels and on-demand services for two months, and are still airing in rotation to date – by April 2017, the ads have reached over 80% of the UK population, collectively aired over 47,810 spots

Less than 12 hours after launch Maltesers was a trending topic on Facebook, and we saw the greatest spike in Maltesers’ Google search in the history of the brand. In-market testing proved an increase in sales of +7% for all three TV spots running in rotation, isolated from any other external factors. Industry and press praised the work for leading the charge on improving the representation of disabled people, and over the next few months Maltesers were invited to debate at multiple industry panel discussions about the role of advertising in society. It was even shown in the House of Commons as part of the annual AA Parliamentary Reception. Most importantly, by running brand tracking throughout the campaign, we were able to show that after viewing our campaign consumers were 44% more likely to say that they thought Maltesers were changing the way the nation perceives disability.

Maltesers has always been about celebrating everyday, hilarious moments shared between friends. To authentically talk about disability, we’d need to do it with our typical light-hearted attitude to life, showing disabled women being self-deprecating and laughing at themselves not being exceptional. We saw that there was a lack of communications like this, particularly around the Paralympics, creating a huge opportunity for cut through and fame for the brand. To stress-test our idea, we held focus groups in conjunction with disability charity Scope to speak to disabled people about their lives. We invited our creative team to sit in the groups so that they could immediately dig deeper into the best stories. These groups not only supplied us with a plethora of funny and touching stories to feature in our work, but also confirmed that disabled people wanted to be represented in a more realistic manner.