How Skittles Used "Pleasant Perplexity" to Win the Super Bowl Without a Buy
Skittles is famously "unmistakably Skittles," a brand that has earned its reputation for "weirdness" through a long history of surreal, thumb-stopping campaigns. For the upcoming Big Game, the brand is swerving around the traditional $7 million media buy in favor of a first-of-its-kind experiential stunt: a live doorstep performance for one selected fan by actor Elijah Wood. This "Deliver the Rainbow" activation, livestreamed across social channels, aims to transform advertising from a passive viewing moment into a real-world, shareable experience.
By partnering with Gopuff, Skittles is leaning into the behavioral reality of the Super Bowl as a delivery-and-snacks holiday. iSpot’s assessment of the long-form "Deliver the Rainbow" teaser confirms that while the content is polarizing, it is a powerful driver of brand identity. For the core audience, the creative didn't just grab attention; it reinforced the "pleasantly perplexing" voice that makes Skittles a leader in the chewy candy category.
- Standing Out in the Crowd: The product itself was rated the single most impressionable aspect of the spot by 24% of viewers—a rate that is double the norm for Super Bowl teasers from the previous year.
- Core Audience Resonance: The polarizing, surreal visuals found a highly receptive audience among viewers aged 21-35 and females 16-20, proving that the brand’s absurdist humor hit the mark with its key demographic.
- Strong Brand Recall: Viewer verbatims indicate the creative successfully generated strong recall, with fans noting that Skittles’ PR team is "notorious" for creating captivating, unique commercials that are impossible to forget.
- Casting Success: The unexpected cameo by Elijah Wood was a major highlight for viewers, adding a layer of "quirky humor" and "nostalgia" that bridged the gap between the brand's weirdness and broad cultural appeal.
- High Production Value: Despite the "left field" approach, the production was praised for its bright, eye-catching visuals that represented the 'rainbow' well and maintained high engagement through the first 30 seconds.
Skittles has proven that a traditional in-game spot isn't the only way to achieve cultural cut-through. By staying true to its absurdist voice and leveraging a single source of truth on creative performance, Skittles is effectively positioning itself against rivals while creating a "Buy Now Bowl" moment that is uniquely its own. As we head toward kickoff, this campaign stands as a testament to the power of a brand having the "right to play" in unexpected, playful spaces.
