Did M&M’s in-the-moment ads win the Oscars?

M&M’s bet on glam over game this year, opting for ad time at the Oscars instead of the Super Bowl.

Following a five-year absence, the candy brand returned to the red carpet, airing six 15-second commercials designed specifically for the Oscars. The campaign highlighted the brand’s limited-edition “messages” packaging, featuring M&M’s fun-loving animated candy characters acting as though they were aware of what just happened during the live TV broadcast.

The questions are: What was the impact on Amazon sales? And did gambling on the Oscars versus the Super Bowl pay off?

The M&M’s Oscars night payoff

Profitero monitored market share for M&M’s products pre- and post-airing of the Oscars ads, comparing the results with the impact we saw brands got from Super Bowl advertising.

Here’s what we found:

• M&M’s saw a positive impact on Amazon’s sales after advertising during the Oscars 2020, recording market share increases of up to 51% for its limited-edition messaging products.
• While the Oscars spots had a positive impact on M&M’s share on Amazon, other candy and snack brands that advertised during the Super Bowl saw higher share gains. Most notably, rival Hershey’s saw a 357% increase in Amazon market share for Reese’s Take5 products following the airing of their TV commercials.
• Advertising during the Super Bowl may mean a bigger investment, but it yields a higher return. Snack brands saw higher market share increases during the Super Bowl for a lower cost per U.S. viewer ($0.06) than during the Oscars ($0.11).

In today’s increasingly digital world, where consumers are just a click away from buying, TV advertising can have an immediate impact on purchasing behavior. This underscores how important it is for eCommerce teams to carefully align their digital execution with overall brand marketing strategies — and be ready to drive conversion in the all-important moments during and directly after commercial airings.

Methodology:

For M&M’s products, Profitero looked at a product’s average market share during Feb 9, 8pm EST – Feb 10, 8pm EST (24-hour period from the start of the Oscars ceremony) vs. its average market share Feb 7, 8pm – Feb 9, 8pm 2020.

For the Super Bowl, Profitero looked at a product’s average market share during a 24-hour period from Feb 2, 6pm EST – Feb 3, 6pm EST vs. its average market share Jan 1 to Feb 1, 2020.

In total, 135 products were tracked and studied. The effects of other variables, such as price change, search position and out of stocks (OOS) did not factor into this study but should be negligible given the short time period studied.

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