At Mars, TV is king, providing the highest reaching and most effective media channel in our armoury. So what would happen if TV itself got hungry? One personality could let us explore this incredibly knotty subject: TV channel, Dave. As a brand, Dave conforms to all the stereotypes about the average British man: it’s no nonsense, down to earth, a bit sarcastic. Basically, the type of TV channel that you could have a pint with down the pub. In fact, Dave is a million miles removed from the other classic British stereotype of the upper class toff, who’s mannered, refined and intellectual.

Creating an off-character alter ego for Dave would provide our biggest hunger problem/solution demonstration yet. After all, sometimes people’s hungry behaviour can be so pronounced that they become a completely different person.

So forget Dave: The Home of Witty Banter. Welcome to Rupert: The Home of Pretentious Twaddle.

At 15:28, the hungriest time of day, fans that tuned into Dave found Rupert. So instead of funny shows on Dave, they were watching Rupert and boring shows like a pretentious French art film, a slow paced antiques show and The International Chess Championships.

Dave’s OOH was also taken over, so instead of the iconic white Dave branding on slate with the channel number, the public saw Rupert’s gold branding on red velvet.

With the channel confused Snickers soon sorted out the slip up by slamming a bar onto screen and interrupting the broadcast. A moment later Dave’s normal sting appeared and so did the regular VO who apologised for the slip up.

Dave issued a public apology in the national press, reassuring viewers that a bumper supply of Snickers was now on hand to avert future hunger-pangs. We extended the reach into the biggest YouTube video channel going.

In a year where our overall brand spend had reduced by 25%, our media innovation allowed us to outperform our competitors, growing 1.3% ahead of the category.

“It’s hard to find new and inventive ways to tell the You’re Not You story in a way that surprises people, so partnering with Dave was a masterstroke. This campaign has really opened our eyes to how we can work creatively with media owners, a key part to our plan in 2018.” Christoph Weber, Mars Media Director.