Snickers Satisfied

Sweet Solutions for Outdoor Ad Campaigns

A campaign launched by Masterfoods, a division of McLean, Va.-based Mars Inc., to intensify the popularity of Snickers chocolate bars yielded a spike in sales, and along with TV spots and viral components, the official chocolate bar of the National Football League was marketed heavily with billboards, taxi tops and buses for the first time in seven U.S. cities, including Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles.

The ads featured a play on the recognizable brown, red and blue-lettered logo, substituting the name brand with words capitalizing on Snickers’ best features: “Peanutopolis, Hungerectomy, Nougatocity, Substantialicious and Satisfectellent.”

The phonetic play on words was the work of the New York City office of TBWA/Chiat/Day, an international advertising agency that was awarded the estimated $40 million campaign, while FLEXcon’s self-adhesive film materials for outdoor applications were chosen by a Philadelphia, PA-based firm to convert the large-format, digital NFL campaign pieces.

Officials at Mars say sales jumped an average of 10 percent in the outdoor markets where the campaign initially ran. FLEXcon’s out-of-home materials carried such branding messages for Snickers, as “the official chocolate bar sponsor of the National Football League.” The ads extended to other outdoor advertising locations, including bus shelters and people movers. The NFL component expanded the outdoor campaign success, bringing the message to a concentrated audience of over 70,000.

Snickers Shelter

Snickers snickers bus

The converter chose FLEXcon for its wide selection of successful film material for outdoor advertising, material consistency and lower applied cost, saying that “partnering with FLEXcon, we improved our relationship and capabilities with our clients, by helping us offer image consistency and advertising possibilities on an extensive array of surfaces.”

The bus shelter ads were produced using FLEXcon^® FLEXmark® BILBRD™ BWV RTS, a bright white vinyl with pressure-sensitive acrylic adhesive produces a graphically eye-catching pop to the advertisements, adding dimension to Snickers’ logo colors. It has been specifically produced for outdoor advertising applications such as bus shelters, building wraps and wall signage. The durable, tear- and abrasion-resistant vinyl film is ideal for outdoor environments.

The vehicle wraps - buses and people movers - used FLEXcon’s Bus and Train wrap system, BUSart^™, white printable base film combined a luster over-laminate. The windows utilized FLEXcon’s seeTHRU sign^®, a perforated window film that offers conformability to curved surfaces.

Partnering with FLEXcon, we improved our relationship and capabilities with our clients, by helping us offer image consistency and advertising possibilities on an extensive array of surfaces.

– TBWA/Chiat/Day

This system, approved by CBS Outdoor, offers superior adhesive properties, film conformability and aesthetics, as well as protection with an aggressive overlaminate. FLEXcon vinyl materials for vehicle wraps are made from calendered vinyl rather than cast vinyl, offering lower total applied cost for advertisers who change campaigns frequently.

The taxi tops, which are Clear Channel Taxi media-approved, used FLEXcon’s LITEcal^®, a translucent backlit vinyl with removable adhesive.

More and more advertisers and brand owners are seeing the value in outdoor advertising—adapting to fast-paced consumer lifestyles and finding ways to stand out in an oversaturated market.

When incorporating outdoor advertising in an integrated marketing plan, advertisers and brand owners alike can enhance a campaign to reach consumers along every point of the purchasing experience.

FLEXcon materials help communicate marketing messages across diverse advertising applications. With both aesthetic and durable qualities, FLEXcon’s pressure sensitive films withstand harsh environmental conditions to maintain brand image with graphic vibrancy.

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