PEPSICO | Sandwich | 2010
There's a real town in England called Sandwich. It got targeted. / Walkers "Sandwich"
There's an actual town in Kent, England, named Sandwich. Walkers took over the whole thing. Turning a place name into a campaign feels almost too clever to be fair.
The problem
The problem was pretty unglamorous. Only about one in ten times did people pair Walkers crisps with their sandwich at lunch.
The insight
Research showed that crisp lovers believed any sandwich would taste better with Walkers added to it. So instead of arguing the point, why not prove it with the real thing? The idea of treating an entire town as the "ultimate sandwich" is brilliant.
The idea
F1 driver Jenson Button became a taxi driver, footballer Frank Lampard coached the local team, and Pamela Anderson worked behind a pub bar. JLS threw a surprise live show at a school, and Gary Lineker walked around town in a sandwich costume. Cameras captured the townspeople's genuine, unscripted reactions, so what unfolded felt less like an ad and more like something that had actually happened in the town.
What happened
The campaign won Gold, Silver, and Bronze at the 2010 Cannes Lions, and in 2011 it took the first-ever Grand Prix in the newly created Creative Effectiveness category. Brand sales grew 26%, well above the 15% growth target.
Afterthought
The nerve it takes to prove a place-name pun by renting out an entire town is remarkable. A round of applause to the team and client who pulled this off on a budget of around 250 million yen. Next time I spot a product named after a town, I suspect I'll go straight to looking up that town.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2010
