As part of its ongoing efforts to prove "You are not you when you are hungry," Mars created a clever series of Snickers bar advertisements. The print ads feature the Snickers name on some of the most well-known wrappers of other candy bars that Mars manufactures, including Bounty and Twix. Rather than alluding to products from a competitor, this is a subtle way for Mars to promote its other offerings.
As well as being dressed up in an unfamiliar wrapper, Snickers also takes on the graphic style of each chocolate bar's logo, which consumers will be able to recognize as familiar, yet foreign.
Previously, consumers have come to know this campaign with advertisements where Snickers has created intentional Photoshop mishaps on models and for its most recent Super Bowl ad, transformed Marilyn Monroe into Willem Dafoe.
Chocolate Impostor Ads
These Ads Dress the Snickers Bar as Other Chocolate Snacks
Trend Themes
1. Subtle Promotion - The Snickers ads dressing up as other chocolate snacks demonstrate the trend of subtle promotion in advertising.
2. Wrapper Disruption - The Snickers ads showcase the potential of disruptive innovation opportunities in creating unique and unfamiliar wrappers for chocolate bars.
3. Graphic Style Transformation - The Snickers ads adopting the graphic style of other candy bar logos highlight the trend of graphic style transformation in branding.
Industry Implications
1. Food and Beverage - The Snickers ads demonstrate disruptive innovation opportunities for marketing and promoting food and beverage products in creative ways.
2. Advertising and Marketing - The Snickers ads exemplify the potential of disruptive innovation in the advertising and marketing industry through unique promotional strategies and design techniques.
3. Packaging - The Snickers ads present opportunities for disruptive innovation in packaging design, where unique wrappers can differentiate products and attract consumers' attention.