Celebrations x Bounty Bar
Bounty PR Agency
Work
This is the story of our multi-award-winning work with the brand team at Mars Wrigley.
Each Christmas ‘Celebrations’ goes into battle to win the biggest share of voice amongst a vast array of selection boxes on offer.
For the past three years, we’ve helped the brand triumph in a crowded category with creative integrated campaigns around the most divisive of chocolates – the Bounty bar.
In 2021 we fired up the conversation with the launch of a ‘Bounty Return Scheme’ – a unique and limited-edition initiative which allowed Bounty haters to swap their unloved bars for the nation’s favourite Malteser.
The earned-first campaign launched with an heart-warming video featuring a Lonely Bounty bar who needed some love at Christmas.
Riffing off the John Lewis Christmas Ads, our content featured seasonal cues, a touching storyline, nods to famous films and even an emotional cover-song (performed by our very own Creative Director!)
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Our video gate-crashed the Christmas TV ad debate, judged by Kantar as one of the top 5 most effective ads at Xmas, despite not appearing on TV!
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The campaign generated 3 million video views and more than 500 earned media articles and proved to be the most successful PR campaign in Mars’ history.
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Our 2021 activation had stirred up the nation’s Bounty-haters. But it also highlighted the widespread love for Bounty from a cohort of coconut chocolate lovers who until now had been silent.
For our 2022 campaign, we needed an idea that would speak to both sides of the debate.
Something to appease the Bounty haters while prompting the Bounty sympathisers to speak up in support of the much-maligned choc.
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Enter the No Bounty Celebrations tubs. A limited-edition product made available in select stores ahead of the festive period. While the haters rejoiced, Bounty lovers would have to speak up or risk losing the bar forever.
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We employed a three-phase approach including a multi-faceted media strategy, a robust gifting programme to media, influencers and celebrities, as well as a consistent drip-feed of bespoke content across own-brand channels.
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Naturally, our beloved video star (Mr Bounty) returned for a second year with a new piece of Christmas content in the form of #BringBackBounty.
Bounty began trending on Twitter as soon as the story broke and was at No.1 within a matter of hours, staying in the top ten for four consecutive days.
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The nation woke up to every major breakfast broadcast show debating ‘To Bounty or Not to Bounty’.
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Millions of listeners of Capital Radio, BBC Radio 1 and ITV’s Good Morning Britain, propelled the conversation to offices and pubs around the UK.
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That night the ITV News at 10 dedicated a 3-minute segment to the story.
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Celebrities got in on the debate too – Perri Edwards was heartbroken and Piers Morgan accused Celebrations of ‘killing Christmas’.
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The Times even asked Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for his opinion.
Coverage was global – the news was debated on the Today Programme, covered in the New York Times and featured on Australian TV, amongst many others.
Every major national print title in the Uk ran the story and the media coverage continued to pour in over the weeks that followed, with the seasonal spot resulting in another huge spike.
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6,502 pieces of coverage globally (3,688 in the UK)
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4 Day Twitter trend – trending at no 1 on Day 1
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452 million impressions on Twitter in the campaign period
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UGC TikTok content with over 4 million combined views
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75 billion+ estimated reach globally
2023 – part three of our Bounty trilogy.
It was time to champion the coconut choc and discard all the others.
With a ‘Bounty-only’ tub, available exclusively in the run up to Christmas.
This was followed by a competition for super-fans to win a Solid Gold Bounty – a one-of-a-kind offer helmed by Bargain Hunt’s Danny Sebastian.
Our campaign concluded with a live debate at the historic Oxford Student Union to finally to put the matter to rest once and for all (spoiler alert: Bounty won).
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We triumphed over the competition, snagging the title of the UK’s favourite Christmas chocolate box of the year (YouGov 2023) – no mean feat in what a hugely crowded FMCG sector.
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Over 4,100 pieces of coverage & 600K article shares in year 3
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19% increase in sales of Celebrations year on year