Jenny Chan 陳詠欣
May 9, 2012

Skittles campaign turns local 'villian-hitting' folk sorcery tradition on its head

HONG KONG - DDB has launched an activation campaign for Skittles, entitled ‘beat the rainbow’, which adopts the popular folk sorcery known as ‘beating the little person’ to remove bad luck caused by one's enemies.

Skittles campaign turns local 'villian-hitting' folk sorcery tradition on its head

The campaign is meant to strengthen engagement with teens and ensure that the Skittles brand is part of their choice of candy. Jeffry Gamble, ECD of DDB Group Hong Kong said the idea, based on social creativity, was to bring some unexpected fun to the dark folklore.

The purpose of the 'villian-hitting' or ‘beating the little person’ spiritual ceremony is to curse one's enemies. Such rites are often performed by older ladies in Hong Kong and China, who continously beat human-shaped papers with shoes or other implements.

A Skittles 'beat the rainbow' smartphone app provides a virtual platform for teens to 'beat' their chosen 'little persons'. In the app, users can select an image of their friend (or enemy) and 'beat' it until the image enlarges to a bigger size.

 
The twist lies in the message that the app randomly generates at the end of the 'beating'—one that blesses the ‘little person’ that was beaten instead of cursing him or her. The user is encouraged to pass on the 'lucky' message via Facebook.

Other executions in the campaign include guerrilla marketing via leaflets, point-of-sale materials, and a viral video (below).

 

 

Credits
Campaign: Skittles – Beat the Rainbow
Client: Wrigley's

Agency: DDB Group Hong Kong
Executive Creative Director: Jeffry Gamble
Creative Director: Danny Chan
Associate Creative Director: Raymond Chau
Senior Account Director: Roy Ha
Art Director: Michael Chan
Senior Copywriter: Pui Shan Ting
Strategic Planner: Andrew Ho
Business Director: Lisa Ip
Senior Account Executive: Emile Chan

Exposure: Digital, online, POSM

 

Source:
Campaign China

Related Articles

Just Published

19 hours ago

Nearly 70% of bias incidents in AI LLMs occur in ...

The study also reveals that 86.1% of bias incidents required only a single prompt, underscoring how easily AI models can still produce biased outputs despite advances in safety.

19 hours ago

How Knorr used retail media to drive conversions

CASE STUDY: Unilever brand Knorr teamed up with The Trade Desk and foodpanda on a retail-data campaign that achieved more than 12.9 million impressions, exceeding the brand's goal by more than 70%.

20 hours ago

40 Under 40 2024: Thanzyl Thajudeen, Mark and Comm

A seasoned PR expert and founder of Mark and Comm, Thajudeen has transformed his Colombo-based agency into a leading regional player.

20 hours ago

Meta begins firing ‘lowest performing’ staff

Notices began going out to employees in most countries including across Asia this week, as the tech giant prepares to cut approximately 5% of its workforce based on performance.