From Snickers' point of view, skipping its YouTube preroll ads is just as bad skipping one of the Mars candy brand's chocolaty treats when you're hungry.
So, to boost viewer engagement in the prerolls, Impact BBDO in Dubai just unwrapped "Pre-Video Videogames"—ads you can actually play that are also packed with loud, silly hunger scenarios.
In the first spot below, a school-bus driver behaves like a crazed WWE wrestler because he hasn't had a nosh. Users hit pause to try to help him snag Snickers bars that sail across the screen.
Dude looks like a caveman. And he certainly shouldn't be driving while munching on a Snickers. Think of the children!
Next, a tennis umpire behaves like a member of Spinal Tap:
Has that guy been working the Australian Open? Rumble-tum officiating might explain those big upsets.
Impact BBDO has been trying to evolve the brand's long-running "You're not you when you're hungry" positioning. "The Warning," a goofy time-trip commercial, is another recent example, and the new "Pre-Video Videogame" spots take things a step further. (They will also run as traditional TV ads, minus the gamification.)
The results are diverting in a bone-headed kind of way, though with all due respect, this stuff seems far from unskippable.
CREDITS
Client: Snickers
Agency: Impact BBDO Dubai
Regional Executive Creative Director: Fadi Yaish
Creative Director: Jamie Kennaway, Stephanus De Lange
Associate Creative Director: Dio Santos
Regional Account Director: Frances McCabe
Senior Account Manager: Lina Ghulam
Editor Lead: Joris Bosdriesz
Motion Graphics Lead: James Keith Elgie
Senior Broadcast Producer: Anju Purushot
Broadcast Producer: Rajaa Chami
Post Producer: Ann Geleen Amparado
Production House: Good People
Director: Maged Nassar
Executive Producers: Michel Abou Zeid
DOP: Pierre Mouarkesh
Grade: Karim Mira, Lizard VFX
Online: Serena, Dubai
Producers: Mahmoud Al Jabban, Daniela Borges, Romy Raad
Flame Artist: Miguel Ruiz
Graphics: Gary Fedorenko, Yunus Ali
Music & Sound Design: Mango Jam, Dubai