Give the rainbow. Taste the rainbow.
Brand: Skittles Agency: adam&eveDDB
Taking a brand's most valuable asset and then ditching it from packaging could quite reasonably be construed as utter folly. But in the case of Skittles, flying in the face of marketing convention and removing its iconic rainbow proved to be both a powerful celebration of diversity and a paragon of commercial nous.
A marketing spend of just over £600,000 meant that the campaign had to punch above its weight.
From 2014, the confectionery brand had been finding it harder to reach consumers through its TV-heavy marketing, harder to reestablish retailer support, and was suffering from a consequent fall in sales. A drastic situation called for a drastic measure.
Rather than rely purely on advertising to try to turn things around, Skittles and agency adam&eveDDB began with an idea that would resonate with millennials and refocus communications away from the traditional media.
The realisation that Skittles and LGBT+ festival organisers Pride shared the image of a rainbow at the heart of their brands formed the kernel of the campaign idea. But rather than merely link the two, Skittles "gave away" its rainbow to Pride, removing it from its packs.
A marketing spend of just over £600,000 meant that the campaign had to punch above its weight. Using PR and social, with a product film, a float at Pride events, in-store photo booths and influencer content, the results pummelled the featherweight budget.
A partnership with Tesco saw millions of rainbow-less packets of Skittles appearing on-shelf.
The campaign outperformed its modest budget, driving 250m impressions, doubling distribution at the UK's biggest retailer, achieving huge sales growth and elevating market share.
It emphatically demonstrated that being brave and taking a risk can result in some of the most effective and laudable marketing.