Objectives

In 2014 Sour Patch Kids [SPK] set out to raise awareness of the brand among its core demographic, candy-loving teens who may have had Sour Patch Kids in the past, but had forgotten how awesome they are and needed a reminder.To engage with a teen audience, our approach was simple: speak to them in a way that they relate to, about topics central to teen lifestyle, and in the social spaces where they spend most of their time.

As a platform teens visit daily, YouTube was a natural place to develop fun, engaging content with an opportunity to encourage peer-to-peer sharing; a critical part of teen interactions.Leveraging YouTube also gave SPK the opportunity to feature the brand's signature CGI animated Kids within storytelling to highlight sweet moments where their charming personality could really shine as well as showcase the loveable hijinks the brand is known for.

In the weeks leading up to Halloween, a key time for candy brands and teens alike, SPK kicked off the original series Breaking Out; putting their unique spin on conversations relevant to teens and making a huge impact on audiences.A scripted series sharing the Sour-then-Sweet roller coaster ride of High School, Breaking Out featured hugely popular YouTube creators, Andrea Russett, Ricky Dillon (of O2L), Brent Rivera, and Chris Collins (Weekly Chris).Week after week, passionate fans engaged with the series across YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook; consuming, creating, and sharing content and begging for more with each new release.

Strategy and Execution

Part of Sour Patch Kids' brand is that they don't do anything halfway.To ensure SPK was leveraging YouTube to not only get the attention of their core teen target, but grab it and hold on; Sour Patch had to consider the phenomenal rise of the "YouTuber" and the potential implications for a brand.

According to a survey conducted by Variety, YouTube stars are more popular than mainstream, "Hollywood" celebrities amongst US Teens. Headlines in publications such as Hollywood Reporter and Adweek confirmed these findings and reinforced the "cultural tipping point" of the internet overtaking the mainstream.As an early adopter in digital and social spaces, SPK partnered with Fullscreen Media- a global MCN with deep understanding of the core values that drive teen culture - to co-create Breaking Out; an original program that capitalized on this tipping point of influence and credibility and a series of firsts:

• -The first-of-its-kind evolving narrative living within YouTube
• -The first scripted series to feature a full cast of Influencer talent in their acting debut
• -The first foray into "acting" for the animated Sour Patch Kids, the brand's most recognized and unique asset

Although scripted, close collaboration with talent was key to ensure credible delivery of the Sour- then-Sweet message and lend authenticity to the narrative.Episode and series themes stayed true to the organic voice and relatable moments the cast organically shares on their individual platforms—a combined audience of 5MM+ on YouTube and 21MM+ on Social Media.

The program featured three key components:

6 Hero episodes:

• -Starring the "celebriteens" and fictionalizing the "Sour-then-Sweet" experiences of high school, each episode had a sour and sweet component—just like the candy!
• -Also featured animated Sour Patch Kids in their acting debut, driving storylines forward and seamlessly integrating the brand platform into the series

18 ancillary videos:

• -Sharing an additional facet to the hero storylines, ancillary content lived on talent's respective channels and was delivered in each influencer's signature YouTube style, beloved by fans.

2 Live event activations:

• -2,000+ fans previewed an exclusive series teaser during Fullscreen's INTOUR event
• -300+ fans attended a Meet & Greet with the cast, some of them lining up hours in advance and driving hundreds of miles to participate

"Breaking Out" surpassed expectation, and yielded notably sweet results:

• -9MM+ series views since program launch
• -+225% above partner benchmark for series engagement

Huge impact across social:

• -12.6M+ conversations around the series in October
• -Doubled SPK Instagram following during month of October

In combination with the brand's total marketing efforts, the innovative series helped drive an astounding 13% increase in awareness against the SPK core demographic

Plus, with the series culminating in a cliffhanger, SPK left audiences wanting even more of the series; the most common response declaring: "NOOOOOOO DON'T MAKE IT END!!"

Don't worry, we can't get enough of their Sour/Sweet goodness either and look to even more great work on YouTube in 2015.

Media