Mars

The Opportunity

The COVID-19 pandemic squashed any hopes of in-person trick-or-treating for Halloween, which meant bulk candy buying was likely to take a big hit. Mars Wrigley wanted to make sure its fans could still celebrate from home, launching TREAT TOWN™, a first-ever digital Halloween experience that allows users to send candy virtually to friends and family. The brand turned to TikTok to help increase awareness and drive app installs.

The Solution

Mars Wrigley leveraged two In-Feed Ads via the TikTok auction for 13 days leading up to Halloween. The videos featured the iconic Yellow M&M, along with clear CTAs. The brand amplified the campaign with TopView, making TREAT TOWN™ the first TikTok our community saw when they opened the app for a full day. The brand also worked with TikTok to identify and partner with two popular creators to develop creative that showed real people enjoying the app — and tested this creative against its brand assets to see which performed better.

Mars Wrigley also carried out a Brand Lift Study (BLS) to measure the impact of the campaign. TikTok BLS, one of TikTok's first-party measurement solutions, allows advertisers to better understand and measure the effect their campaigns have on brand KPIs such as awareness and intent through a brief survey that is sent to users automatically during campaigns.

The Results

The campaign generated a huge influx of app installs the day after the premiere of the TopView and consistently throughout the campaign. The TREAT TOWN™ app shot also up to #2 in the App Store in the F&R category and the campaign’s clickthrough rate and CPI exceeded benchmarks. Overall the campaign generated more than 123 million video views across all formats and 70,000+ app installs. Mars Wrigley's BLS report also revealed a 14.2% increase in awareness, 27% increase in ad recall and 13.4% increase brand association as a result of the campaign.

Creators on TikTok bring stories to life authentically, so it's no surprise that the TikToks featuring official creators spurred 169% more installs than TikToks solely featuring brand creative, with a 22% more efficient CPI. Following the success of the campaign, Mars Wrigley is doubling down on a series of TikTok- specific campaigns across major holidays and cultural moments, while also looking for additional opportunities to partner with creators.