Mike and Ike - Branding and Advertising
The Breakup
Mike and Ike was a candy brand that had fallen off the cultural radar. And sales reflected that.
Overview
Mike & Ike was a 70 year old candy brand with national distribution being outpaced and outspent by competing brands.
Our Strategy
Although Mike and Ike aren’t real, and they never were, that didn’t stop us from breaking them up. This notion allowed the campaign to be an on-going narrative, and a flow of content to “prove” it was real. There was an art opening for Ike in NYC; Mike produced a music video out of LA, and celebrities commented on break-up. Importantly, it utilized one of the brand’s biggest assets to deliver the message: its package. This mini billboard was already everywhere- a media channel on its own.
Results
Google trends showed a 20 fold spike in conversation about the brand. Sales grew at three times the rate of the category—breaking a decade old sales record.
Although supported by ad spend, it was the nature of the concept that lead to unplanned earned media coverage, from David Letterman to Anderson Cooper. Twitter fans took sides.
And most importantly… fans kept talking about this for 8 years after the campaign ended. And they’re still chatting. This is the highest brand building achievement – earning a place in popular culture.
