In a highly saturated and cluttered mass market with 99% biscuit penetration, Oreo India managed to reach the #1 position in the premium sub-segment of the biscuit category. But for 12 years our communication strategy had solely focused on families with kids. We spent millions of marketing dollars positioning ourselves as kid only brand, alienating 56.8% of urban households (as of 2022). So, it wasn’t surprising that our brand didn’t resonate with grown-ups and our penetration began lagging in households-without-kids.

This situation made our business, brand and campaign objectives evident –

1. BUSINESS OBJECTIVES

• Boost penetration in households-without-kids by 40% vs last year’s activation period.

• Increase overall brand penetration by 40% vs last year’s activation period.

2. BRAND OBJECTIVES

• Take Oreo from ‘Just a Kid’s Cookie’ to ‘Everyone’s Favourite Cookie’, measured by at least a 15% increase Top-of-Mind Recall.

Oreo has consistently embraced the philosophy of diffusing life's seriousness with playfulness. Given the business challenge of getting more adults into the Oreo universe, we chose to tackle a seriousness in their life – the serious conversations that pepper their every day. We realised that a well-timed joke or a touch of humour can break that ice and diffuse that ‘seriousness’. But let's face it, not everyone has a funny bone. This felt like a problem we could help with – and thus the funny-on-demand platform called #SayItWithOreo was born.

This first-of-its-kind, real-time AI-powered platform mimicked the words, voice and humour of India’s famous on-screen comic Farhan Akhtar. India took to the platform to diffuse a range of conversations from asking one’s boss for a raise to coming out to one’s parents.

After 12 years of talking to households-with-kids, alienating 56.8% of urban households (internal Oreo data), Oreo India’s penetration started lagging in households-without-kids. Oreo's challenge was appealing to adults while diffusing the seriousness’ of life with playfulness.

Our target group was 15–40-year-olds in urban/semi-urban India with rising disposable incomes and despite coming different walks of life, one thing united them all – the everyday serious conversations they didn’t know how to diffuse.

Oreo recognized humour's diffusive power, but not everyone's a comedian. Enter #SayItWithOreo, we put alphabets on our cookies and made them the gateway to an AI platform upon scanning, that mimicked the humour, words and voice of India’s beloved comic, Farhan Akhtar, on demand! This first-of-its-kind platform offered users a playfully humorous and personalized answer for every serious conversation. We relied on organic PR mentions (38 publications) and partnered with influencers from X & DIVO to amplify our platform.

#SayItWithOreo wasn't just a platform; it was a multi-faceted experience that employed unique approaches across different media.

Cookies = Gateway to #SayItWithOreo: A pack of Oreos with alphabets on it became the access card to find and use the platform, seamlessly integrating the product and idea.

Digital-First Approach: The campaign focused heavily on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter(X).

Real-Time Chats: Imagine expressing yourself playfully in everyday WhatsApp conversations? #SayItWithOreo made it possible with a keyboard integration.

Social Media Voices: #SayItWithOreo partnered with popular Indian influencers like Zakir Khan and Ritesh Deshmukh, answering their most asked questions on Twitter with humorous videos.

Bridging Divides: #SayItWithOreo tackled the 'Barbie-Oppenheimer’ movie debate awkwardness head-on, by partnering with PVR cinemas to play funny videos before every movie.

Hyper-Specific Solutions: Partnering with Google, we identified and addressed the most-asked questions across demographics, creating targeted and customized responses to everyone felt heard.

BUSINESS RESULTS:

Our main target audience, households without kids, grew by 46%[1] vs last year’s activated period. This was >3x[1] more than the category growth in the same period.

Overall brand penetration grew 50%[1], surpassing competition by >4x[1].

Boost Penetration in Households without Kids? Check!

BRAND RESULTS:

Our brand funnel reached its highest peak ever.

Top-of-Mind awareness jumped 33%[2] after the campaign vs a mere 13%[2] by largest mainstream competitor - Britannia Good Day.

Further strengthen our brand funnel. Check!

CAMPAIGN RESULTS:

The campaign achieved over 2 billion[3] impressions

We reached over 180[3] million Indians.

With 1.6 million[3] unique questions asked and answered

The range started from “how to ask your parents for permission to go for a sleepover” to “how can I come out to my parents”.

Become as relevant to grown-ups as we do to kids and make our media monies work harder? Check and double check!