Social Rocket
M&M’S is expanding its brand platform “It’s More Fun Together” with a new “Screentime” campaign. Three 15-second spots parody crime series, telenovelas and reality TV. The campaign runs across broadcast, full-episode video, programmatic and social media.
Rather than a classic product spot, Mars relies on well-known entertainment formats as a creative shortcut: the M&M’S characters appear in situations whose storytelling viewers recognise immediately.
Three TV tropes, one brand idea
The three films are called “Scene of the Crime”, “Telenovela” and “Unanimous”. In the crime spot, missing M&M’S are treated like victims of an investigation. The telenovela plays with a deliberately misunderstood declaration of love. “Unanimous” adopts the visual language of a survival reality show and turns its elimination logic into a snack gag.
According to Marketing Dive, the campaign comes from BBDO Chicago, was produced with Omnicom Production and director Rami Hachache of Prettybird. The spots run not only in the classic TV environment but also programmatically and on social media channels.
For social media teams, the interesting part is less the individual gag than the structure: M&M’S takes culturally familiar video formats and builds the brand directly into their narrative style. It is a similar mechanism to brands that develop a recognisable content series instead of a single campaign film. That is also what Bonobos is doing with its social series “Weekday Warrior”.
“Screentime” continues an existing platform
The new campaign is not a complete brand relaunch. Mars had already introduced “It’s More Fun Together” globally 2025. In Germany, the platform is called “Zusammen macht’s mehr Spaß”.
Mars Germany spoke at the time of a multi-million 360-degree activation package for the DACH region. For Germany alone, the company planned around 500 million gross contacts in June and July 2025. The mix included TV, online video, social media, influencer collaborations and in-store activations.
The new “Screentime” approach picks up exactly this brand core again: shared entertainment, humour and the M&M’S characters as recognisable figures. Whether the three new US spots will also be used in the same form in Germany has not been announced so far.
Why genre parodies can work for social
For brands, the campaign holds a simple lesson: familiar narrative patterns reduce the explanation burden. A crime setting, a telenovela or a reality show convey tone and expectation within seconds. This is especially helpful in short-video environments, where the hook has to work very early.
Similar strategies can currently be seen more often. Cadbury links its campaign with a social series and fashion activation, while Jeep combines brand heritage with UGC, social and streaming. The common denominator: campaigns are no longer planned as a single hero spot, but as a system of reusable formats and cultural touchpoints.
For social teams, this doesn't automatically mean every brand should parody well-known film genres. What matters is whether the format fits the existing brand character, the humor, and the product. With M&M’S the idea works because the Spokescandies have been used for years like recurring comedy characters.
Social is part of the media mix, not just an extension
The channel planning is also noteworthy. "Screentime" is being rolled out simultaneously across classic and digital video environments as well as social media. In doing so, Mars treats social not as a belated extension of a TV spot, but as an equal distribution channel within the same creative platform.
This fits a broader trend: brands are increasingly trying to develop campaigns that work in different video environments while keeping the same brand core. Target also combines classic media with creator content and social activations in its current "Inside Out" campaign.