Starburst drops colour from packing in charity initiative
Starburst is dropping most of the colour from its packaging as part of a message that it is giving colour to sick children’s lives.
The campaign, created by Clemenger BBDO, is backed by an ad featuring kids enjoying a paint fight.
The unusual strategy is part of a tie-up between Starburst and Camp Quality, which helps Australian families affected by cancer. Teens from Camp Quality feature in the “Colour Fight” commercial.
The three month campaign will run across TV, online and point of sale until April.
Credits:
- Marketing Director: Andrew Leakey, The Wrigley Company
- Account Management- Peter Randeria, Anna Holmes, Rekishia Jessup
- Copywriter- Alex Derwin
- Art Director- Heather Sheen
- Executive Creative Director – Richard Maddocks
- Media- OMD (Alex Houghton, Ben Sjogren, Andrew Mulrenan)
- Print production- Melissa Scurry
- TV producer- Laura O’Connor
- Account Planner – Al Crawford, Ryan O’Connell
- PRODUCTION HOUSE: Photoplay
- DIRECTOR: Husein Alicajic
- PHOTOGRAPHER: Danny Eastwood
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large. He returned to Mumbrella as Publisher in January 2025
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Nice idea.
It has cut through and relevance to the brand – harder to achieve than most people think.
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Damn that is good.
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The cynic in me says that Starburst have now joined the ranks of Evil Mastermind Corporations:
They’ve created an ad out of making cancer riddled children fight eachother, backed by sweets, the consumption of which, could give them diabetes if the cancer doesn’t kill them first…
*Slow clap*
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This is no different to McDonalds sponsoring little athletics. Fail.
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What, you mean apart from the joyous ad, and brave move with the packaging? A bit harsh, Foobar…
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
If they were doing purely as a rebrand – without the association to Camp Quality, then yeah, I’d dig it. But honestly, how can you endorse this in good conscience? I don’t wanna sound like Mia Freedman, but this is one of those “if you had kids you’d understand” things… I’m assuming you don’t have kids Tim?
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Yikes, no wonder it is getting harder and harder to engage corporates in mutually beneficial CRM activity for NFPs. The comments by Foobar and Snoop are probably why corporates are shying away from actually doing anything meaningful, publicly.
How cynical we have become, eh?
Love the campaign. Brave and upbeat.
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I’m with you Karalee. The plain facts are that NFPs need corporate sponsorship/patronage to run a business. It’s up to the NFP to decide what is a good fit and I reckon Camp Quality have a really good thing going on here. As for Starbust, yeah it makes them look warm and fuzzy, but then it’s better their ad dollar goes to Camp Quality than blow $100k on yet another TV station or print publication.
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Yellow snakes are the worst colour/taste anyway.
Initially I thought “oh why show off the fact you donated be humble” but then realised it also helps raise awareness of the charity and that in itself is worth more than the $100,000 also.
I have had little experience with charity promotions/campaigns due to the fact brands have been reluctant to get involved with any cause marketing. Their holding companies have done something wrong somewhere in the world and they know people are out there waiting to rub their noses in it. It’s sad when local charities miss out due to global politics.
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It’s not a re-brand, it’s a campaign. If they took away the association to the Charity there would be no relevance, so not entirely sure what you would ‘dig’? So what they’re getting some promotion from the campaign, that’s Clemenger BBDO’s brief. And if a charity is going to gain some funding in the mist of it, are those against this type of campaign, against the idea of corporates supporting charities – where would most charities be without corporate sponsorship?
Apologies for the rant, just feel some people will always try to bag a good thing.
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@Nick I have a problem with a company that produces *confectionery* sponsoring a children’s cancer ward.
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@Foobar, fair enough, I’m not here to convince you otherwise. I don’t I have problem. Its confectionary, not cigarettes. Kids eat sweets, I did, you did, I’m sure your kids do. As long as parents are responsible enough to ensure they are consumed in proportion, as with everything else in life, they are not going to do any lasting damage. And if they are going to throw a few dollars to a cancer ward, well I wouldn’t sign the petition stopping them.
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I have a problem with the amount of money they donated.
To change the packaging, redesign, shoot the commercial, pay the agency and then buy the media it surely would cost a great deal more.
I think if they really felt so warm and cuddly they would spend more on the charity and less on telling people about it.
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I have to say that I really like it, I think it is a great ad/idea and well executed.
I think that there should be a tie in moving forward rather than a 100k donation, along the lines of “For every packet purchased we’ll give all the profit to the charity for 3 months” or something similar. It would hopefully take away some of the (rather harsh) cynicism that is out there.
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Sometimes Fionn, in CRM it’s better to take a designated cash amount than a percentage of sales/profits or an ‘open’ amount. The NFP can then budget the money straight away rather than relying on product sales/performance with an unknown dollar amount. And, in most times both parties will do the maths and the set amount will exceed the products’ minimum sales targets.
I do agree with you that in circumstances such as this one, the call to action with the change in packaging is a little lost. But for the NFP, it’s equally about the positive brand exposure they’re receiving from the campaign and packaging, as it is about the cash.
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Good on them, I’ll buy a packet or two on the way home!
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Karalee – understood and obviously the NFP wants the cash and a set amount up-front. I was speaking about this in conjunction with an initial lump of cash.
Just a thought as a way to make it look like a more long term tie-up as opposed to a publicity grabbing stunt and using sick kids to their advantage. That way the original benefit is there for both parties and the brand benefits from a longer term approach and less cynicism.
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To all the wet blankets who have a problem with this campaign: if you can help Camp Quality gain an instant $100,000 please give them a call.
Most NFPs would hang the chairman for that amount.
Camp Quality wins. And (of course) so do Wrigleys and the Starburst brand.
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I would like to know a. if Snoop and Foobar actually donate to charity themselves and b. where they derive the income to do so?
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Better than not doing anything at all FOOBAR, perhaps complaining on the internet will halp the kids though, you never know.
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