Maltesers is the UK’s favourite confectionery brand, but something was wrong.

Chocolate sales were up 4% YoY, but Maltesers sales were down 19.3%.

Brand data showed we’d lost relevance with women.

Most worrying was the 25% drop in brand ‘esteem’ over four years; positive perceptions were the lowest since measurement began.

Recent brand campaigns helped women build resilience, making the tough life moments a little lighter through the ‘Look on the Light Side’ campaign.

With a huge trust gap to earn, we could no longer simply reflect women’s experiences - we’d need to deliver real-world acts that made the tough stuff women faced a little lighter.

We set ambitious targets to counter falling brand health and sales;

1. Grow ‘brand esteem’ by at least 8% amongst women (to counter the 7% drop between 2019 & 2020)

2. Increase sales of Maltesers by at least 4% (in line with category growth)

Maltesers built its business by being a shareable treat amongst women. With maternal mental health, sharing is the best way to destigmatise the topic. Removing that painted smile and admitting that not everything is okay is immensely hard as women have been socially conditioned not to.

We had to destigmatise the real, less talked about experiences of motherhood, ensuring that both mums and those around them had a better understanding of the realities of maternal mental health.

And we had to create better support networks around new mums, encouraging people to step up as the village new mums need.

Maltesers clearly divided the work to be done to make a difference into 4 key strategic pillars:

1. Uncover the key issues that mums face

2. Set a ‘new normal’ to encourage ‘oversharing’

3. Take the issue public to break down stigma

4. Help mums find help

1. Uncover the key issues that mums face- 1,500 UK mums ‘overshared’ across 1300+ articles (including non-commercial BBC), generating 200m+ impressions. Partnerships with Black Ballad and Gay Times identified the specific issues black and LGBTQ+ mums face.

2. Set a ‘new normal’ to encourage ‘oversharing’ – 200+ pieces of content showcased 12 influencers’ authentic experiences with maternal mental health, reaching 2.5m+ mums encouraging them to ‘overshare’.

3. Take the issue public to break down stigma - TV, OLV and social media gave scale BUT prominent OOH made people sit up by highlighting eye-opening survey statistics and mum ‘overshares’. Photos of #themassiveovershare OOH exploded on social media, creating reach larger than its footprint (as intended).

4. Help mums find help – Content pointed to our mental health hub, created with Comic Relief and maternal mental health charities The Smile Group and The Happy Mums Foundation. PPC directed mums find this hub.

• +7.1% sales lift (presumably as people shared the realities of motherhood with a pack of Maltesers) and the highest rate of sale in 3 years!

• The campaign regained trust with ‘esteem’ levels growing 70% with mums, 23% with women and 45% amongst the broader population YoY.

• Highest WOM & Buzz scores since 2015 and the highest volume of social conversation in Maltesers history, with a 46% increase in social conversations around Maternal Mental Health and 1000s of mums participating in #TheMassiveOvershare

• The campaign caught the attention of several parliamentary ministers and was celebrated by the Prime Minister’s special adviser as ‘Best in Class’ social activism.

• Finally, and most importantly, the campaign led to behaviour change with over 200,000 women actively seeking help for maternal mental through Maltesers resource hub, showcasing the powerful impact of destigmatising a taboo topic by making it public.