Nestlé fuels passion for Nesquik with launch of "Bunny Ears" campaign to bring back fun into the everyday

Campaign by Ogilvy & Mather uses innovate technology drive engagement with families

NEW YORK - Nestlé Nesquik and Ogilvy & Mather engaged parents and children across the country in a new way by asking them to celebrate September 16th as National Bunny Ears Day.

On Monday, National Bunny Ears Day officially kicked off a multichannel marketing effort conceived by Nesquik’s advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather to introduce the Nesquik brand to a whole new generation of families and bring fun back to the everyday.

“It’s been seven years since we’ve had a marketing campaign of this scale and it felt like the right time to reintroduce Nesquik to parents as a way to inject fun into the everyday routine, while still providing nutritional benefits,” commented Chad Patterson, Marketing Manager, Nesquik, Nestlé Beverage Division. “Sitting at the crossroads of fun and nutrition, Nesquik represents the fun side of milk for kids and our Bunny Ears initiative provides a prime opportunity for our brand to connect with families through fun, semi-irreverent platforms.”

The campaign soft-launched in June in cinemas via a 60-second spot in which the Nesquik Bunny, the brand’s longtime mascot, is seen warming-up and training to start spreading bunny ears across the globe, and then popping up in various photo-ops giving bunny ears to unassuming people in the background of a wedding, birthdays, basketball games and class picture day. They end with the tagline “Break out the Bunny,” promoting Nesquik as a fun, convenient, and nutritious drink perfect for any occasion.

To bring parents and kids into the fun of helping the Nesquik Bunny spread bunny ears across the country, O&M created “The Nesquik Bunny-fier”- a mobile app that allows users to place bunny ears over people or objects in their photos and share them with friends, engaging in social conversation and adding elements of whimsy to everyday photos. The app is available free from the Apple iPhone app store and at Nesquik.com starting the week of Sept. 9.

The campaign partners the Nesquik Bunny with popular actresses Ariana Grande and Jennette McCurdy who star in a second TV spot with the Nesquik Bunny and are also featured at www.nick.com/nesquik. A third spot extends the fun further by showing families Nesquik’s latest innovation, a new bottle for the ready-to-drink product on which the Bunny changes color when chilled.

“The Nesquik Bunny was an icon that symbolized fun to mom as a child and we wanted to bring that fun back to a new generation of kids. Through our Bunny Ears campaign, we are bringing the fun side of the brand to life through the simple act of giving bunny ears in photos. We had to make Nesquik relevant again to today’s families, and we think we’ll achieve that through this campaign.” said Lauriann Serra, Executive Group Director, Ogilvy & Mather.

Leading up to National Bunny Ears Day, Nesquik built anticipation and buzz through outreach with national and local morning talk shows. Bunny training kits - containing everything from warm-up exercises for your fingers to wrist bands - were distributed to show producers, showing talk show hosts how to properly “Bunny Ear” their co-hosts and guests on air. The morning shows displayed their bunny eared photos on television and encouraged viewers to enter a Bunny Ear photo contest on the Nesquik Facebook page calling on all bunny ear enthusiasts to prove their skill and mastery of the time-honored, photographic prank using the Bunny-fier app for a chance to win a family trip. The prize is an all-expenses-paid family vacation to the Caribbean next summer.

For more information about the campaign, bunny ear training tips and rules of the photo contest, please visit the NESQUIK Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/nesquikusa.

About Nestlé USA
Named one of “The World’s Most Admired Food Companies” in Fortune magazine for 16 consecutive years, Nestlé provides quality brands and products that bring flavor to life every day. From nutritious meals with LEAN CUISINE® to baking traditions with NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE®, Nestlé USA makes delicious, convenient, and nutritious food and beverage products that make good living possible. That’s what “Nestlé. Good Food, Good Life” is all about. Nestlé USA, with 2012 sales of $10 billion, is part of Nestlé S.A. in Vevey, Switzerland — the world’s largest food company with a commitment to Nutrition, Health & Wellness — with 2012 sales of $98 billion. For product news and information, visit Nestleusa.com or Facebook.com/NestleUSA.

About Ogilvy & Mather
Ogilvy & Mather is one of the largest marketing communications companies in the world. It was named both the Cannes Lions Network of the Year and the EFFIEs World’s Most Effective Agency Network for two consecutive years, 2012 and 2013. The company is comprised of industry leading units in the following disciplines: advertising; public relations and public affairs; branding and identity; shopper and retail marketing; health care communications; direct, digital, promotion and relationship marketing; consulting, research and analytics; branded content and entertainment; and specialist communications. O&M services Fortune Global 500 companies as well as local businesses through its network of more than 500 offices in 126 countries. It is a WPP company (NASDAQ: WPPGY). For more information, visit ogilvy.com, or follow Ogilvy on Twitter at @Ogilvy and on Facebook.com/Ogilvy.