Audio & Radio > Radio & Audio: Sectors
DDB CHICAGO / MARS / 2019
Awards:
Overview
Credits
Write a short summary of what happens in the radio or audio execution or campaign.
For the Super Bowl, instead of following years of established advertising wisdom, Skittles skipped the 30-second TV ad, and made a full 30-minute Broadway Musical.
While everyone else was doing TV ads, we created a musical with 40 minutes of original music and lyrics, sung by a 17-member cast and live band in a genuine Broadway Theater.
We started by announcing our show with Times Square billboards and branded tour busses.
And we sold tickets. People spent over $200 to see an ad, and the show sold out in 72 hours.
As buzz built, we announced our celebrity star. Then, we released a full music video of the title track ‘Advertising Ruins Everything.’
And for the millions who couldn’t attend the show, we released the full original cast recording album on Spotify.
On Super Bowl Sunday we debuted our live show, and even sold authentic souvenirs– T-shirts, posters, vinyl records.
Cultural/Context information for the jury
The Super Bowl is seen as marketing’s biggest stage. For over 50 years, brands traditionally spend $5 million dollars for a 30 second TV ad and the 100 million eyeballs that come with it. We wanted to create even longer and more meaningful engagements without having to pay $5 million for a TV spot. So we created an entirely different stage. One built not on TV like everyone else, but around original music and live musical performance. So could a musical ad on Broadway generate Super Bowl sized conversation without the Super Bowl sized spend? By creating a new stage for Super Bowl advertising, we ended up with over 2.5 billion earned impressions - more than 25 X the viewership a TV ad receives on the big game. And more importantly, a 5.6% rise in Skittles consumption.
Script. Provide the full radio advert script in English.
THIS MIGHT’VE BEEN A BAD IDEA
INTRO
Have you ever been asked to make a skittles ad
Dressed like an animal, not sure if you feel angry, or just sad
And your agent Brian urged you to say yes
It’s for the Big Game, after all, and it could be a big success
But you get out on the stage and you realize what you’ve done
This ad will NOT be on TV, this ad will NOT be number one
And you’re sweating off your tail, because you’re dressed up
like a cat
Have you ever felt like that?
Well I have
Yes I have
CHORUS 1
This might have been a bad idea
This Skittles Broadway thing could end my whole career
And now I’m seeing things just a bit more clear
This might have been a bad idea
BRIDGE
I’ll never work again, no one will hire me
No one will want The Skittles Guy in their movie
I’m gonna lose my house, crash on my neighbor’s couch
Selling my plasma and living off of lunch meat
I’ll kill my agent Brian, then I’ll go on the run
I’ll grow a beard so no one can recognize me
You’ll end up in a prison
This was a bad decision
Thank you Skittles for ruining my entire life
CHORUS 2
This might have been a big mistake (BODEGA PEOPLE: I think
you’re right)
Like eating pancakes with a glass of lemonade
The worst decision that I ever could have made
Yes, this might have been a big mistake
CHORUS 3
This might have been the worst idea (BODEGA PEOPLE: It
definitely was)
Like a holiday in North Korea (BODEGA PEOPLE: Just goin’ to see
the sights)
Sometimes a thing turns out exactly as you fear
This might have been a bad idea
OUTRO
And I feel stupid dressed up like a cat
Have you ever felt like that
MUSICAL SCENE
WOMAN: Is this something you do often? Walk into small grocery
stores and start singing?
MICHAEL: I don’t know. Sometimes. Hmm. I have to say, these are
pretty good. Yeah wow. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo,
violet. Most of those colors are represented here.
WOMAN: Mm-hmm. Those have not been paid for yet.
MICHAEL: Wow. Maybe I’m overthinking this whole thing. Maybe it
could be really... really… amazing
THIS MIGHT’VE BEEN A GREAT IDEA
CHORUS 1
This might have been a great idea (BODEGA PEOPLE: But prob’ly
not)
This Skittles Broadway thing might change my whole career
It could be the biggest hit that Broadway sees all year
Yes, this might have been a great idea
CHORUS 2
This might have been the perfect choice (BODEGA PEOPLE: Or maybe
not)
I can taste the rainbow and it makes my soul rejoice
Five fruit flavors the entire world enjoys
This ad might have been the perfect choice
BRIDGE
I’ll do the late shows, and all the other shows
I’ll win a Tony, everyone will love me
Win every Nobel Prize, even the one for doctors
I’ll buy a fleet of Croatian helicopters
Start dating RBG
She’ll be his baby mama
I’ll share some Skittles with the freaking Dalai Lama
I’m gonna be the king, the king of everything
Thank you Skittles for making me the king of everything
And I feel good being exactly where I’m at
Have you ever felt like this?
1
ADVERTISING RUINS EVERYTHING
CROWD
Well it’s 2 o’clock on game day, and here we are
At a theater on West Forty Third
And we drove here from Jersey with hope in our hearts
Now we’re standing like idiots out on the curb
And that guy in the cat suit was totally rude
And the songs were all totally lame
We were duped once again by a marketing stunt
And Skittles--
MICHAEL WALKS OUT, HEADING HOME, POSSIBLY IN SWEATSHIRT AND
JEANS, CARRYING A DUFFEL BAG. THE CROWD SPOTS HIM.
CROWD (CONT’D)
--and you sir, are to blame
INTRO
But you paid for this show, and you knew what it was
It says “Commercial” right there on the thing
You see ads every day, they’re all over the place
So, I don’t know why this time it should sting
MUSICAL SCENE
MAN: Okay, right. So now it’s our fault that Skittles betrayed
us.
MICHAEL: Betrayed you?
WOMAN: Yes, betrayed us. Our whole day is ruined now, plus we’ve
all been betrayed.
MAN: I don’t know if I could ever trust a faceless,
multinational corporation again.
MICHAEL: Oh c’mon… I thought everyone in America loves these
“Big Game” ads.
WOMAN: Oh, so now we’re Americans?
MICHAEL: What? I honestly don’t understand why you’re so upset.
2
CROWD
Because advertising
It ruins everything
Yes, advertising
Ruins everything
Advertising
Ruins everything
Advertising
Ruins everything
COUNTERMELODY 1
But companies like Skittles all need advertising
Look it up friends, it’s called free enterprising
It’s just a commercial, stop your moralizing
I don’t see the problem with advertising
CROWD PERSON 1
It ruins the web and it ruins TV
And it fills our inboxes with SPAM
And there’s nothing we hate more than each tiny paid for
Targeted ad served up on Instagram
CROWD PERSON 2
It stalks me online like some sad lonely ex
Tracking my every move
It knows what I eat and the size of my feet
and it’s inside my brain and I do not approve
CROWD
Advertising
Ruins everything
Advertising
Ruins everything
COUNTERMELODY 2
What do you want from me?
I’m just doing my job
I was hired by Skittles, I’m caught in the middle
You ill-tempered mob
CROWD PERSON 3
It makes me spend money I don’t even have,
Buying hundreds of shoes I don’t need
Which wouldn’t be bad if I wasn’t a dad
With a wife and three children to feed
3
CROWD PERSON 4
It shows me how perfect a woman can be
And reminds me how perfect I’m not
I wish I was happier, but I feel crappier
With this new face that I bought
SOLO
What have I done?
What if they’re right?
What if I ruined Broadway by being in this ad tonight?
I see what you’re saying
And I make you this pact
I will never make an ad again, so long as I can act
CHORUS - MICHAEL
Because… advertising
It ruins everything
CHORUS - MICHAEL AND CROWD
Yes advertising
Ruins everything
Advertising
Ruins everything
Advertising
Ruins everything
(repeat)
COUNTERMELODY 3
Boy I really hate brand advertising
Everything about it is demoralizing
But here’s one thing I’m just now realizing
Wouldn’t it be great if we could Taste the Rainbow? (CROWD:
What?)
Five fruit flavors that are deliciously surprising (CROWD: No!)
The perfect treat for this anti-capitalist uprising
CROWD
Oh my god, he’s still advertising!
4
MUSICAL SCENE
WOMAN: Everything’s all just a big musical ad to you, isn’t it?
MICHAEL: Well if you’re referring to the big musical ad we’re
in right now, then yes.
MAN: What? You might be in a Skittles ad, but I definitely am
not!
MICHAEL: Then why are you wearing a Skittles shirt?
MAN: It was a… gift from my daughter…
MICHAEL: Look I’m sorry to tell you this, but you don’t have a
daughter.
MAN: What?
MICHAEL: Yeah. You’re an actor named Rob Smith. You do have two
nephews, but you’re not very close.
MAN: No. That can’t be.
MICHAEL: Everything you think, everything you say, it’s all been
written by the Skittles marketing team to get Game Day PR buzz.
LADY: But, what about free will?
MICHAEL: Sorry.
MAN: But you stood on that stage and you sang about how much you
hated this whole thing.
MICHAEL: Yeah, that’s called acting.
MAN: (Still angry but also impressed.) Oh. Then well done! It
was actually very convincing.
TRAIN MAN: (Shakily:) What about me? Am I real?
MICHAEL: Yeah no, you’re actually real. I don’t know where you
came from.
WOMAN: You’re a terrible person. First you ruined our Sunday
with this shameless Skittles stunt. And then you shattered the
5
tenuous façade of our fictitious human experience. And you also
made us miss the Game.
MAN: Somebody has to pay!
THE CROWD IS UPSET. THEY BEGIN TO PUSH TOWARD MICHAEL, WHO
BEGINS TO GET A LITTLE NERVOUS.
MICHAEL: (Getting scared:) Okay, calm down. Advertising is just
a -- you know -- thing we have to live with.
MAN: Get him!
MICHAEL: (Desperately trying to stop them:) A necessary evil in
this society in which we choose to live.
WOMAN: I hate you for making me see the ugly truth!
TRAIN MAN’s WIFE: I want to see other people!
MAN: Get him!
MICHAEL: (calm, at peace with his fate.) I forgive you for what
you’re about to do!
MAN: What? That just makes me more angry!
MOB:
Yelling “tear him apart!”, “get him!”
-END Musical Scene1
THIS DEFINITELY WAS A BAD IDEA
EMOTIONAL SOLO
I felt the glory on the stage,
A candy ad for a brand, new age
A thing that’s never been done
Stardom was within my reach
I’d written my acceptance speech
The audience and I were one
And yes, I tasted the rainbow
I saw firsthand the way the colors glow
Purple, orange, yellow, green and red
A man learns what his limits are
When he tries to become a Super star
But instead he ends up... dead
LADY
This definitely was a bad idea
‘Cause I wasted two hundred bucks to sit here (MICHAEL: And also
‘cause I’m dead)
SKITTLES CEO
This ad won’t help us reach our sales goal for the year
CHORUS
This definitely was a bad idea
This definitely was a bad idea
WOMAN
‘Cause the show was boring and unclear (MICHAEL: And it resulted
in my death)
FOOTBALL PLAYER
I missed the game in Atlanta to be at this premiere (MICHAEL:
I’m dead)
CHORUS
This definitely was a bad idea
This definitely was a huge mistake (MICHAEL: I’m a ghost with a
bunch of heavy chains)
JERSEY MAN
We should’ve just gone for a really nice steak (MICHAEL: And I
should’ve stayed alive)
2
BLAKE
I helped kill Broadway and I feel like such a fake (MICHAEL: You
also helped kill me)
CHORUS
This definitely was a huge mistake
MUSICAL SCENE
ONE OF THE CHARACTERS LOOKS AT HER PHONE.
Hey, are you guys seeing this? An article in Business Insider
says Skittles sold 587 packs at the concessions during the show.
THIS TRIGGERS A MONTAGE OF DIALOGUE, RECORDED VOICES, NEWS
SOUNDBITES, SOCIAL MEDIA CLIPS, ETC. THAT BUILD AS THE
MUSIC BUILDS.
That’s not even half the audience.
It’s better than nothing.
Yeah, I guess so. Or is it?
600 packs is pretty decent. This has been a tough year for
consumer-packaged goods.
Guys. My mom just called me and told me the show sold nearly 600
packs of Skittles.
600 packs?
Yeah, almost. This is incredible.
The people who work at the concession stands deserve to be
recognized.
(News voice) A silver lining in the Skittles advertising stunt
that resulted in the death of actor Michael C. Hall.
600 packs! Those 600 packs really give meaning to Michael’s
life.
(News voice) An almost imperceptible rise in Skittles sales.
Someone in the lobby just bought another pack.
3
600 packs! Nearly 600 packs.
Thank you, Michael, for raising Skittles sales by nearly 600
packs.
Thank you, Michael, you did it.
The bill proposing funding for a new high-speed rail system was
roundly rejected by a bipartisan committee.
Thank you, Michael.
CHORUS
This Skittles ad sold nearly 600 packs
We should all be patting each other’s backs
I’m wearing a moldy suit with polyester slacks
‘Cause this Skittles ad sold nearly 600 packs
This has been a really tough year for snacks
But together we sold 600 packs (SOMEONE: Or a number close to
that)
Could someone water my ficus and maybe feed my cats? (SOMEONE:
Feed his cats!)
‘Cause this Skittles ad sold nearly 600 packs
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