Thirty Years Young – How An Observed Insight Inspired Us To Create Milky Way Magic Stars
Back in the early nineties, the Milky Way brand was in trouble. It had been forced to abandon its “sweet you can eat between meals” tagline, and its market share was in steep decline
Whereas other businesses might have cut their losses, Mars did what they do so well – went on the offensive!
The brief we received from the brilliant Sara Weller and her senior brand manager, Liz Hanson, was super-clear – “help us find a way to steal growth from Cadbury’s Buttons”.
Cadbury’s Buttons were an icon
Both Mars and Cadbury recognised that a child’s first exposure to chocolate can set their preference for life.
This recognition not only showed in Buttons’ packaging, but was explicitly played out in their TV commercials
Mars had historically lost out to Cadbury’s Chocolate Buttons among the youngest groups – as mums perceived them to be ideal for small children.
However, after twenty years of “the sweet you can eat between meals, ” Milky Way was firmly established as the permissible treat you could give to slightly older children with a clear conscience.
The strategic plan was to lean into this, creating a challenger to the Buttons format, with the exciting appeal of “my big brother/sister’s favourite brand – and all the permissibility of Milky Way…
We leveraged the Milky Way brand’s equity to create compelling concepts
Our early creative concepts leveraged the well-established equities of the Milky Way parent brand …
We played with space…
We harnessed the stars from around the Milky Way logo…
We played with the use of characters…
We built play value into the shapes…
We even created games …
And we prepared the stimulus to share in research with mums and their kids.
An unexpressed consumer insight about time turned our thinking around!
We researched the concepts amongst some of Cadbury’s Buttons’ most dedicated fans.
We observed them eating Buttons – and analysed their experiences.
We showed them the Milky Way concepts – and assessed their reactions.
We talked to their mums and explored their likes, dislikes and motivations.
And we made a startling discovery …
They weren’t buying chocolate to give their kids a treat (although this is what they said out loud) …
They were buying chocolate in its fiddliest, most engaging and most time-consuming form to keep their kids happily occupied – and buy themselves a few precious moments of peace and quiet!
Magic Stars were designed to match the insight and maximise mum’s moment of peace
Once we’d identified this guiding insight:
‘I love treating my child but what I really need is to buy myself a few moments of peace“
… we used it to shape every aspect of the product design experience.
The chocolate pieces were designed with angular, rather than smooth, sides – so it took longer for little fingers to pick them up.
The chocolate pieces were aerated, not just to make them lighter but also so there were more per gramme of chocolate – and the whole bag lasted so much longer.
The branding flowed out of a new European positioning based on the idea of ‘Mother’s Magic’ – so to integrate the new product more tightly into the freshly evolved Milky Way brand equity – the whole idea of magical stars was born.
Then we discovered the Mars’ team were planning to order gravure moulds with six identical shapes, so we begged them to invest a little extra to etch six different designs – so the little eater would stop to see which character they were going to eat next
Once we’d established the concept of building individual characters into every piece, it was a small step for one of our team to craft the compelling story of Starland and the six magical stars who lived there: Pop Star, Bright Star, Super Star, Falling Star, Jess Star & Baby Star
It wasn’t long before it was suggested that the characters should appear on the back of the pack – so the consumption moment would be extended even further with a story!
Magic Stars were launched in 1995 and became instant favourites for a whole generation of kids
When the final Milky Way Magic Stars concept was quant-tested pre-launch it achieved the best ever score for a new product idea – and 90% of mums tested claimed they would buy
They were as good as their word – and within just a few months, Magic Stars was the fastest selling kids’ confectionery SKU in UK Woolworth’s stores (if you remember them!).
It wasn’t long before Mars backed the Magic Stars with a significant £2m TV campaign using ground breaking CGI techniques, that ran from 1995 – 1999 – and cemented the place of the Magic Stars in the hearts of millions of kids.
“Working with Brand Development was brilliant. It was a bit like having an extension to my own brain.”
Senior Brand Manager, Milky Way at Mars
Why some innovations last, but others don’t
As Milky Way Magic Stars celebrate their thirtieth birthday we reflect on what makes innovation that lasts.
In a world where most new FMCG products will be delisted within a year, longevity comes from really understanding your consumers’ needs.
Insight based on a fundamental understanding of human behaviour and motivation.
The kind of insight and the kind of NPD concepts that Brand Development have a thirty-year track record of building!
More new product development success stories
Our approach has evolved a lot over the last thirty years.
We’ve adopted agile, disruptive and co-creative approaches and tools; and over the years our team has changed a lot.
However, some things remain consistent:
- No cookie-cutter approach: every process is tailored to our client’s needs
- Senior team: we’ll dig deep to understand your challenge and come up with a solution that works
- We’ll always over-deliver: even if the budget doesn’t cover it
- Insight will always drive the solution: every time!
Brand Development: still solving real consumer problems with fresh eyes, still unconstrained by conventional market wisdom!
We’ve got the tools to help you disrupt!
However big your innovation challenge, however tight your timing, or however modest your budget … we have the agile insight, ideation & co-creation tools that will help you generate the growth you need.
Give us a call on +44 1491 411272, or connect with David or Joanna via LinkedIn
We custom-build solutions for every client – that deliver brilliant results!