Snickers, the chocolate bar owned by NFL sponsor Mars Wrigley, launched a new US campaign at the start of September to leverage the start of the NFL 2021/22 season which encourages football fans to share moments when they’ve messed up and made mistakes.
Launched on 9 September, 24 hours ahead of the season opener, visitors to a new brand website at snickersrookiemistakes.com can upload their own photographs, films or written accounts of their own personal ‘rookie mistakes’ – moments where they’ve made small but embarrassing errors – in order to enter a competition and be in with a chance to earn shoutouts from current NFL stars and Snickers.
The consumer stories may be embarrassing, but Snickers aims to keep the tone light with a focus on low stakes anecdotes – like forgetting a phone loaded with game tickets after heading out to the stadium – and the activation is amplified with the #SNICKERSROOKIEMISTAKE hashtag.
These fan digital confessionals acts as the confectionary brand’s kick-off engagement platform and it will run through the regular season.
One grand prize winner will receive the ‘Snickers Rookie Mistake of the Year’ award – as judged by a panel of NFL players – and scoop a pair of tickets to Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles.
Other standout submissions will win other NFL-themed prizes.
A further promotional strand of ‘Rookie Mistakes’ sees the brand partner with Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster who will share examples of his own fumbles on and off the field as part of the campaign.
The activation is being promoted across the brand’s own digital and social channels and the campaign is led by a hero spot.
We’ve got something satisfying coming this season. Check back Thursday 8PM ET for kickoff! pic.twitter.com/Ud40tjlieE
— SNICKERS (@SNICKERS) September 7, 2021
Snickers, which is Mars Wrigley’s mainstay brand sponsor for its NFL partnership, worked on the initiative with agency BBDO New York.
Indeed, ‘Rookie Mistake’ is linked to the ‘Maybe You Just Need a SNICKERS’ existing brand catchphrase and is the latest addition to a marketing programme which associates moments of lapsed judgement being alleviated by eating the candy bar.
Comment:
This suggests a strategy switch from recent Snickers NFL campaigns that have put the primary focus on players.
For example, in the past two years, the chocolate bar maker ran a ‘Hungriest Player’ program which saw exceptional performances on the field rewarded in the form of an iced-out chain necklace bearing the Snickers logo.
By placing more emphasis on fan creation and fan engagement, perhaps Snickers’ sports marketers are gearing up for another unusual season given ongoing COVID-19 concerns.
This initiative is another example illustrating how the Snickers marketing team is leaning in to user-generated content to spearhead and build out its football marketing as it aims to build longer lasting, deeper and more emotional connection with consumers in 2021.
Will people feel quite as comfortable sharing their mistakes and potentially seeing those errors amplified on social media as the brand believes they will be?
We will have to wait and see.
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