When The Grocer set us the challenge of making old school sweets cool again, we didn’t just change the design, we created a whole new experience.
Here at Stormbrands, we were lucky enough to get approached by The Grocer publication and invited to create a concept inspired by one of the hottest topics of the moment, engaging Gen Z. Our brief was to take a forgotten confectionery classic and reinvent it, for unequivocal appeal to this youthful target, then share our story with The Grocer’s readers to inspire others and prompt ideation.
To kick off this exciting opportunity, we began with Brandstorm, our proprietary insight tool that enables us to glean rich insights that spark creative opportunity. Brandstorm is a window into the world from the perspective that matters, our consumer. We step into their shoes and deep dive into their lives to appreciate all the context and nuance that impacts how they think, feel and behave and ultimately how they make their purchase decisions.
For us, capturing observations from genuine Gen Z moments was crucial, so we chose a team of designers, strategists, and client services who were truly best placed for the brief. Whilst support was always on hand, our core team was made up entirely of our youngest rising stars, who could readily immerse themselves and thrive with this opportunity.
We began by refining our audience, for maximum impact and focus. Gen Z currently include those who are still school age, plus adults who are working, and may even be homeowners with families, and financial responsibilities. To focus our brand development, we targeted school age Gen Z only, and began by exploring the social, emotional and functional dynamics that effect their lives and choices.
Our research revealed that whilst our digitally native Gen Z audience experience unprecedented social pressures at school, created by mobile phones and social media, they also engage in digital behaviours that create connection and camaraderie. Understanding how a brand can alleviate this tension between social pressure and connection was key to our success.
Building on the brief from the Grocer, we were then able to pin down a more focussed brief with even more clarity; to give UK ‘school status seekers’ social currency with a humbug. Out of all the sweets we could have chosen, the humble humbug won us over because of its unique striped aesthetic that could inspire a disruptive creative world, and the duality of the taste sensation between peppermint and caramel. This is a sweet with huge creative potential!
With this direction on who we were targeting, and our proposition, we explored the world of our audience more, to understand their values and rituals. School status seekers are at an age where they are vying for independence from the family fold, and their minds are fully focussed on the relationships between them and their peers. They want to fit in, first and foremost, but they also want to express themselves and get noticed. Digital is a means for achieving both, and culturally cool content is in huge demand.
When it comes to confectionery, this audience don’t have much money to spend, so what they do spend has to pack a punch. They favour brands that deliver experiences that they can share, and challenge and gamification are prevalent in the products they buy. They value a sense of anticipation rewarded with surprise, and enjoy testing their own limits with extreme flavour profiles.
With clarity on their appetite, we were able to craft a proposition that resonated with our audience, and that can bring new life to the ubiquitous, and lesser known humbug.
“Introducing Bugz, the delicious Humbug experience with a glitch in the system.
Hidden within six delicious striped sweets is a rogue ‘Bug’ with a challenging flavoured centre that someone’s going to hate. More than just a sweet, Bugz is a game of social roulette based on the element of surprise - present your players, pull the tray, press record, and watch the chaos unfold.
This gamified sweet experience has been reinvented for the TikTok generation, so it’s over to you to write your own rules.”
Bugz inspires real-life connections, playful challenges and fun social content. The look and feel is packed with attitude, inspired by the original striped design, but brought to life with a vibrant and provocative ‘hazardous’ twist. Out of home campaign communications tell the Bugz story through playful messaging, user-generated portraits and emoji reaction stickers to create a distinctive DIY expression.
And digital experiences encourage playful experimentation with gaming suggestions and social media challenges. Players are encouraged to capture and share hilarious content getting Bugz!
Bugz has limitless potential to bring school kids together for an experience they can share and have fun with IRL and through digital. Whilst purely a concept, our research participants have been asking us when they’ll see Bugz in the shops and who knows, one day they just might…
You don’t need a brief to start a conversation.
getintouch@stormbrands.co
