M&M’S purpose is to create a world where everyone belongs, through the power of fun. But the brand had been embroiled in conversations that actually divided people, rather than bring them together. The 2024 Super Bowl was an opportunity to recenter the cultural conversation back to belonging.

From a business perspective, M&M’S also needed to increase awareness + share of voice within the peanut butter confectionary category. Peanut butter is the fastest growing & largest flavor partition in the chocolate category, but despite Peanut Butter M&M’S being around since the 90s, it suffered low awareness, and the competition dominated the category.

Peanut Butter M&M’S needed to provide comfort to Super Bowl losing teams and fans, but we needed a culturally splashy way to deliver that story.

In our research on peanut butter and America’s love & fascination for the product, it was uncovered that it’s possible to make real diamonds out of peanut butter.

The most famous cultural symbol for winning a Super Bowl is the Super Bowl championship rings: massive & glittering jewelry covered in diamonds that players wear proudly.

But there has never been a cultural prize for the losing team, even though they’re the most in need of comfort.

To create belonging for the losers while championing the power of peanut butter M&M’S to bring comfort, M&M’S created the Almost Champions Ring of Comfort: a first-of-its-kind, 14k gold ring with 12.7 carats and featuring diamonds made from M&M’S Peanut Butter.

M&M’S as a brand has very high awareness levels, but its peanut butter offering didn’t. We first needed to understand what could drive people to Peanut Butter M&M’S specifically.

Research revealed that consumers seek Peanut Butter M&M’S satisfy emotional hunger and physical hunger, instead of physical hunger alone. 64% reported reaching for Peanut Butter M&M’S when they needed emotional support, and 64% agreed that Peanut Butter M&M’S help get them through tough times.

The peanut butter category competition leaned into mostly functional taste appeal only, so there was also a white-space opportunity to communicate the offering as a delicious product that could also offer comfort.

At the Super Bowl, where a majority of the audience’s favorite teams are not winners, Peanut Butter M&M’S could be the perfect source of comfort for those who truly needed it most in that moment.

The Ring of Comfort was a smashing success, earning 11 billion Earned Media Impressions globally, with a 99% Positive/Neutral Earned Media Sentiment.

Peanut Butter M&M’S sales increased 154% on mms.com, and sales increased 18% across Jan-Feb and over 20% in Feb alone. The brand also received a 10% year-over-year increase in total peanut butter earned share of voice against competition.

Google searches for ‘Peanut Butter M&M’S’ increased 38%, and DoorDash sales increased by 61%.

In an early effectiveness measure, M&M’S came in 2nd (53.5%) when viewers were asked “which products they’d be open to purchasing” (AdAge).

Our Super Bowl ad was mentioned in multiple ‘Best Super Bowl commercial’ round-ups incl. top-tier outlets Narcity & Sportsnet, and several “Best Ads” lists, incl. ABC’s GMA, The Wrap, The Hill, Mashed and Vogue – plus Top 10 Ad mentions in The Daily Meal, Awful Announcing and The Athletic.