MIKE AND IKEThe Breakup
ChallengeThe brand had faded from relevance. Sales followed.
StrategyTension = attention. So we manufactured some drama.
Results300%
Above average industry sales growth
+ Huge earned media
Mike and Ike was a candy brand that had fallen off the cultural radar.
And sales reflected that.
The 70-year-old candy brand with national distribution was being outpaced and outspent by competing brands.
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 ongoing 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 the 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.
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 led to unplanned earned media coverage, from David Letterman to Anderson Cooper. Twitter fans took sides.
And most importantly…fans kept talking about this, years after the campaign ended. And they’re still chatting. This is the highest brand-building achievement—earning a place in popular culture.