Snickers radio ad wins AD&D!

Never happy letting outstanding advertising go unnoticed, our three cheers this month goes to 140 BBDO’s Mike Pearson & Ross Nieuwenhuizen who’ve just been awarded the prestigious D&AD In Book Award for their Snickers ad! Listen to the ad & hear what they have to say for themselves…

What impact does this accolade have for you, 140 BBDO, and local radio creative as a whole?

D&AD is a notoriously tough award, so it’s a huge boost for the agency to win, especially as we’ve only recently re-launched. It puts us on the map in a big way – for all the right reasons. Winning for a radio ad is hugely satisfying; it’s a massive medium and a lot of good work gets done, so to stand out is really difficult.

What’s the idea behind the Snickers campaign?

Snickers gives young guys the energy to keep doing what they’re doing. Because this market is so marketing-savvy, we really needed to talk to them in way they could relate to. So, we took slice of life moments, where guys wouldn’t like to be left behind and gave them a Snickers twist, for example: our winning ad revolved around a game called ‘Would You Rather’ where guys try to one-up each other by being crazier or more disgusting with the questions they ask their mates. Imagine you had so much energy, you never had to stop playing. Things could get hectic…

Any interesting features that really made it work?

A big thing that had to come through in this campaign was an element of authenticity. This market knows when they’re being ‘sold’, so the ads had to feel fresh and engaging.

When we first recorded the campaign in studio, with voice artists, the spontaneous and fun nature of the campaign was lost. So, we tried again, casting two real (non-actor) guys and recording in-house. This allowed our ‘actors’ to relax and give a performance that didn’t feel like a performance – with natural timing, intonation and responses.

Where’s SA radio creative getting it right and where are we getting it wrong?

South Africans are, by their very nature, creative folk and I think too often we dumb down our advertising to try and appease the lowest common denominator; the same applies to vernacular radio – which is too often seen as an ugly cousin to English and Afrikaans.

We’re convinced we have the passion and talent to nail it, evidenced by the bevy of awards won by our industry over the last few years.

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