Re-Skittling The Internet.
Rebuilding the global social playbook for one of the internet's most beloved brands, and the agency-client structure behind it.
Skittles is one of the most beloved brands online and has long dominated the social internet. But as trends, behaviours and platform dynamics shifted, and brands became less welcome in digital spaces, the position at the top of the pile got harder to hold. The kind of tone-forward, attitude-heavy content Skittles is famous for had become commonplace.
From the brand's history, we knew Skittles could participate in social conversation in a way most other brands couldn't. The question was how far we could push that, which communities and subcultures would actually welcome us, and how those audiences could contribute to ongoing commercial success, without the brand losing what made it Skittles in the first place.
We started by busting down the typical agency/client structure. Mars' internal team make incredible content every day. DDB's team make exceptional scaled campaigns. Both had something to offer each other but had been kept separate. We blended them. Then we went back to brass tacks (why should anyone care about Skittles?) and developed a playbook and framework that lets the brand work at the speed of the communities and culture it lives in, while keeping commercial goals in frame. That work rolled into a comprehensive brand book and strategy, beginning rollout in the US and ultimately every Skittles market.
Implementation began in October 2022. Long-term results are still being collected, but selected pieces of work generated under the new approach are featured in the gallery. The early read on the playbook is that it's working as intended.
