Peeps 2016! Candy Brand Campaigns to Kick Punxsutawney Phil to the Curb

Punxsutawney Phil makes his depressing prediction nearly every year: Keep the coats and snow shovels handy because there's likely to be at least six more weeks of winter. Isn't it time some other critter, one with a much sunnier outlook, became the harbinger of spring? 

Peeps chicks, those airy sugar dumplings, are trying to unseat the oversized rodent as the spokescharacter for the season in a new digital campaign from The Terri & Sandy Solution. Four short election-style videos pit the two against each other to see which one can whip up the most public support. 

#VotePeeps specializes in propaganda attack ads, noting that the groundhog's accuracy rate is a measly 39 percent and he's forecast an early spring only 17 times in 129 years. Harsh! The counterpoint, via a few groundhog-approved messages, say he's a hard worker with a lot of mouths to feed so he should be allowed to keep his day job. (He can't help it if he's accumulated more than a million hours of hibernation. That's just his nature.)

Peeps, made by Just Born Quality Confections, rack up most of their sales at Easter, but the brand's marketing stunts in recent years have increasingly tried to co-opt other holidays. A program around Groundhog Day, to extend the spring buying window, was inevitable.

Look for the digital shorts on social media, the brand's Facebook page and website.

CREDITS

Client: Peeps

Agency: The Terri & Sandy Solution

Executive Creative Directors: Terri Meyer, Sandy Greenberg

Copywriter: Vincent Garbellano

Art Director: Mark Forsman

Editor: Mark Nickelsburg

Motion Graphics: Craig Donnelly and Eric Linn

Audio Post: Sonic Union

Audio Post Producer: Justin Cortale

Audio Engineer: Brian Goodheart

Producer: Laura Benjamin

Integrated Account Director: Drew Schwartz

Account Supervisor: Dani Blevins