To kick off the brand, MasterFoods has launched an aggressive guerrilla marketing campaign, initially using a PR promotion to capture attention.
It was followed with the roll-out of a TV blitz.
The work is the first to come out of Clemenger BBDO Melbourne for Starburst, after the agency picked up the MasterFoods sugar confectionary brands, including Skittles and Kenman Kandy, late last year from D'Arcy.
In its Starburst PR campaign, Clemenger targeted 14 to 24-year olds by placing stickers with the word 'sucks' in strategic places around cities.
The stickers were intended to play on things that consumers think 'suck' such as exams and nightclub queues. Sampling teams were also deployed to university campuses to hand out lollipops. The activity was followed with a flood of television and radio spots that play on the more serious, testimonial style of advertising designed by the well known 'brand power' team.
Calling them 'blandpower' spots, the comic spots seek to demonstrate the numerous household uses of the simple sponge. The female presenter is then interrupted by an animated character who tells her "you suck" and then, to her delight, pops a Starburst lollipop in her mouth. A voiceover says: "New Starburst Sucks Lollipops, makes a refreshing change." The push will also be supported with ambient media.
