Winner: Mars, Incorporated - M&M’S Red Nose Day Campaign
In 2015, M&M’S launched a movement to raise money and awareness for the first U.S. Red Nose Day, a campaign dedicated to raising money for children and young people living in poverty, by simply having fun and making people laugh.
How did M&M’s spread awareness and help spark donations? It started off with a $750,000 donation from M&M’S to the Red Nose Day Fund and then rallied its enormous M&M’S fan base to help make a difference by making someone laugh. When fans made someone laugh and made it known with hashtag #MakeMLaugh across social media, a dollar went to Red Nose Day from M&M’S.
Social media such as Facebook was king in this campaign, as M&M’s partnered with a wide array of influencers to share messaging and #MakeMLaugh. Top-tier YouTubers, bloggers, content creators and more posted social content and triggered donations.
A coordinated media push between M&M’S, Comic Relief and NBC helped unveil the partnership around the first-ever U.S. Red Nose Day, including a stream of social media shares from stars with M&M’S characters, including Heidi Klum, Nick Canon, Howie Mandel, Joe Jonas, Chris D’Elia and more.
Comedian and Saturday Night Live cast member Jay Pharaoh hosted the “funniest five minutes” at M&M’S World in New York City to help generate laughs—and donations. Social media influencers were in attendance to share the content across their channels using the dedicated hashtag, and Jay conducted a media tour to continue to spread awareness.
In total, M&M’S made a combined donation to the Red Nose Day Fund of $1.25 million. Media coverage also resulted in 188.8 million media impressions; additionally, the social campaign, influencer participation and celebrity push generated 269.7 million social media impressions, of which 123.1 million were earned. The hashtag was used over 78,000 times, with 2.9 million engagements on #MakeMLaugh content.
Honorable Mentions:
- American Kidney Fund - Spreading Awareness. Spreading Inspiration.
- Steinberg Diagnostic Medical Imaging - #SaveALife