Overview

I worked in the Magnum team to support the launch of an impactful summer campaign introducing two new products, Sunlover & Starchaser. The campaign, designed to encourage indulgence in Magnum over cheaper alternatives, involved a multi-faceted strategy focusing on sensory engagement and rewarding experiences. My role was in collaboration with various teams to ensure cohesive execution across our media channels as well as digital leadership for a significant part of the campaign, ‘The Pleasure Pass’. This was a golden ticket-style promotion that significantly increased brand equity, and boosted saliency and CRM engagement. The campaign achieved challenging targets, and with the NPDs delivering the second-best penetration ever for the brand. The effectiveness of ‘The Pleasure Pass’, has also established this platform as a template for future campaigns completing version two in summer 2024.

Role description

I worked alongside Brand, Digital, Media, Experiential and PR teams to meticulously plan and execute this campaign. My primary areas of focus for the campaign’s launch included strategy support, qualifying media plans and coordination of our internal team of channel specialists. The strategy aimed to elevate pleasure by engaging the senses & creating a visceral sense of uninhibited pleasure, doing so consistently across a range of ‘seize pleasure’ moments, day and night. We had an extensive channel laydown for the campaign TTL, from AV through Audio, Social, OOH, Partnerships, and all the way to Instore and Rapid Delivery. A key element of the campaign was the introduction of the equity driving earned activation, known as ‘The Pleasure Pass.’ This was an 8-week golden ticket style mechanic delivered through a bespoke microsite, aligned to Magnum’s values and designed to promote the NPDs and bring pleasure to customers.

Main challenge

At the outset of the year, Magnum faced significant market share and price increase challenges which inhibited penetration. Meaningful and Different attributes remained strong and stable but Saliency was an area of focus. Research indicated that consumers understood Magnum as a symbol of pleasure, and yet this wasn't translating to awareness. Consumers were naturally switching to private label and both Cadburys and Ferrero were spending heavily on media (Cadburys was growing at 17%, well ahead of the market). Significant action was needed and there were some substantial objectives and key results to deliver in both penetration and saliency. We needed to get the target audience to treat themselves, even during this tough time, switching them back into Magnum from cheaper alternatives. To do so we launched a summer campaign with 2 new products and the theme of ‘Pleasure is Always on’.

Results

The campaign yielded outstanding results with Magnum premium in penetration growth driven by the NPDs. These NPDs were ranked as the second most successful in the brand's history in terms of market penetration and secured the first and third positions in entire the category.

The ‘different’ and ‘salient’ brand power scores both over-delivered vs target and a standout success was 'The Pleasure Pass,' due to its exceptional performance (entries were over 120,000). The initiative also led to a substantial increase in opt-ins for our CRM program, as well as strong coupon delivery and redemption figures. Finally, the campaign went on to win Product Launch of the Year at the Retail Industry Awards 2023.