CASE 246 / Skittles / 2019
Broadway the Rainbow / Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical
An advertiser made its own advertising problem the subject of a live show.
AI-assisted research and analysis for the SNS Creative Fieldbook; published by SNS Media Tech. No named human reviewer is claimed.
Sources reviewed 2026-11-05
Campaign credits belong to the original creators. They did not write or endorse this analysis.
Credits: DDB Chicago and Mars Wrigley; One Show credits The Marketing Arm and Smuggler among collaborators. Mars identifies playwright Will Eno; contemporary theatre coverage identifies Michael C. Hall, Sarah Benson, Drew Gasparini and Nathaniel Lawlor.
Recognition: 2019 One Show Direct Marketing: Bronze Pencil, Integrated Campaign.
Launch / edition: 2019. Award years: 2019.
The problem. The idea. The experience.
Skittles replaced a conventional 2019 Super Bowl television spot with a ticketed live musical at New York’s Town Hall. Mars announced the plan in January, and contemporary theatre reporting confirms a single performance on 3 February. The title’s Broadway language should not be read as a claim that this was a conventional Broadway theatrical run.
How the idea came to life
The show used original theatrical material and a celebrity performer to examine advertising itself. American Theatre’s attending editors describe a self-referential, deliberately strange production. The campaign’s subject was therefore partly the uncomfortable relationship between entertainment and selling, rather than a straightforward demonstration of candy.
How it reached people
The brand announced the event ahead of time through publicity and social channels, while ticket buyers experienced the performance in person. Supporting music and coverage offered access to people outside the room. The award entry describes a thirty-minute musical; contemporary reviewers describe forty-five minutes, so duration is not treated as settled.
Supporting sources: Primary award archive → Primary brand release via newswire → Contemporary specialist review →
Read the data in context.
The numbers below describe different kinds of outcomes. Their date, scope and reporting source are part of the result.
The One Show confirms Bronze in Direct Marketing / Integrated Campaign in 2019. Mars announced a ticket-proceeds donation with explicit fee exclusions and matching limits. The opened sources do not establish an audited final donation total or incremental sales attributable to the event.
The creative mechanism.
A self-aware format reversal turns commercial skepticism into entertainment
Change the expected format for a reason
An unexpected medium can earn attention when its choice expresses the idea. Start with the convention the audience already recognizes, then ask what a different format reveals about it. A theatrical event is expensive and selective; a small adaptation should preserve the intellectual reversal without assuming a large live production is necessary.
Let self-awareness create substance
Joking that advertising is advertising is not enough on its own. The audience still deserves craft, a point of view or a worthwhile experience. Make the sponsor visible and allow the work to acknowledge genuine tension rather than using irony as a shield against criticism. Test whether people find value beyond noticing the brand’s cleverness.
Design two honest audience experiences
A limited event and its public story have different access conditions. Give remote audiences something meaningful rather than only telling them they missed out. Plan accessible formats, clear documentation rights and truthful descriptions of what was live. Do not multiply the room’s attendance by every press impression and call the result participation.
State charitable mechanics with precision
A cause connection can add significance, but shorthand can hide fees, caps or conditions. Publish the beneficiary, calculation and timing clearly and report the actual amount when verified. Treat a donation as a financial commitment, not a synonym for social impact. The creative team should understand those terms before writing promotional language.
The intended behavior loop
- 01Notice the distinctive invitation
- 02Understand the relevant brand role
- 03Choose whether to participate
- 04Recall or discuss the experience
Growth job: Create a distinctive cultural event → invite discussion → extend attention beyond the venue. This is an interpretation of the mechanism, not an audited attribution model.
A direction to take into the room.
Original editorial interpretation and proposed adaptation. This is a proposed adaptation, not historical campaign execution or a forecast.
The transferable principle
Use a format reversal to explore a real audience tension, while making sponsorship, access and any cause commitment explicit.
Keep these boundaries
Do not reproduce the score, theatrical characters or copyrighted jokes, and do not describe conditional fundraising promises as completed donations.
Turn the lesson into a test.
Illustrative adaptation, not a historical campaign fact
A small-team experiment
A design studio hosts a free, clearly sponsored ten-minute reading of an original comic dialogue about confusing project briefs.
Build the test
- Pay collaborators fairly and agree recording rights in advance.
- Provide an accessible written version for people who cannot attend.
- Avoid fundraising claims unless a separate, fully specified arrangement is approved.
Measure the right thing
Measure attendee understanding and useful discussion separately from publicity reach or inquiries.
Know when to stop
Stop if the performance misrepresents a client, uses unauthorized material or offers only a joke without practical value.
How this reading fits your brief
Start with the useful part.
Best for: Create a distinctive cultural event → invite discussion → extend attention beyond the venue
What to adapt: Use a format reversal to explore a real audience tension, while making sponsorship, access and any cause commitment explicit.
Prerequisites: Original creative development; Operational and rights review; A comparison and proportionate measurement.
Smaller-team route: A design studio hosts a free, clearly sponsored ten-minute reading of an original comic dialogue about confusing project briefs. Constraint: Do not reproduce the score, theatrical characters or copyrighted jokes, and do not describe conditional fundraising promises as completed donations.
Budget: Not established by the cited sources. No cost-fit claim is made.
Trade-offs and evidence: Read the limits below before choosing a test. There is no guaranteed reach, sales lift or ROAS.
Questions for your next brief
- What customer tension does a self-aware format reversal turns commercial skepticism into entertainment address?
- What evidence would distinguish attention from a useful business or social outcome?
Sources & further reading.
Brand and award-entry results are attributed claims, not independent causal audits. Source links open the original third-party pages.
- The One Club: Broadway the Rainbow →Primary award archive · Supports: Campaign premise, agency roster and 2019 Direct Marketing Bronze.
- Mars: Skittles big-game ad is Broadway bound →Primary brand release via newswire · Supports: January announcement, February event plan, distribution and exact conditional donation mechanics.
- American Theatre: editors review the Skittles musical →Contemporary specialist review · Supports: Independent attendance corroboration, venue/date, creative credits, self-referential structure and duration discrepancy.
Independent educational analysis of external campaigns. These are not SNS client projects, endorsements or claims of involvement. Campaign facts and reported outcomes are attributed to their sources. Explanations, adaptations and test plans are original analysis and hypotheses, not proven causal findings.