CADBURY | IT'S NO PICNIC | 2010
Can You Eat a Candy Bar in 30 Seconds? / CADBURY "IT'S NO PICNIC"
Turn on the TV in Australia in 2010 and you might catch a 30-second ad of an ordinary person desperately stuffing a chocolate bar into their mouth. A different person, a different face, every time. Over 200 ads ran, and not one was the same as another.
The problem
Picnic is a chocolate bar packed with nuts, caramel, and wafer—genuinely hard to eat. In 2009 sales had dropped 12.5% and the bar was in danger of being forgotten. At the same time, rival Snickers brought in Mr. T and grew sales 7.2%. Picnic was only running outdoor ads and simply couldn't compete.
The insight
The target was "grown adults who secretly want to do something ridiculous." The bet was that if there was a chance of appearing on TV, people would happily take part. And the core idea was turning the absurd challenge of "eating a Picnic in 30 seconds" directly into a product demonstration.
The idea
The concept was simple. Film yourself eating a Picnic within 30 seconds—the same length as a TV ad slot—using your phone or a webcam, and submit it to a dedicated website. You could pick from ready-made narration and names, so anyone could make their own personal commercial. Videos that passed review each aired on TV exactly once. With no director and no editor, the brand simply handed the whole thing over to consumers.
What happened
They received 657 submissions. Every commercial that aired came from this system. Picnic's sales recovered while Snickers' declined. The campaign was also recognized at Cannes Lions.
Afterthought
The clever part is how the simple question "Can you eat it in 30 seconds?" doubles as proof of just how substantial the bar is. Instead of making the ad themselves, they got people to take part. Doing this back in 2010 is impressive. I'd kind of like to give it a try myself.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2010
Featured in
- Ads Decided How We EatAds that stopped explaining taste started explaining how to drink and eat instead
