Why Airheads Is Causing a Splash with Adult Candy Fans This Summer

“When a young adult hears ‘Airheads’, there is virtually a unanimous response - a smile crosses their face, they think back to childhood summers at the neighbourhood pool standing in line at the snack bar armed with $1, the only care in the world being trying to decide which four flavours they were going to buy… ‘Man, I LOVED Airheads’...”

Craig Cuchra is the VP of marketing for Perfetti Van Melle, the confectionary multinational known for brands like Chupa Chups, and American summer time favourite, Airheads. Speaking to LBB, he shares that since partnering with Chicagoan creative agency Highdive in 2020, the brand has shifted to target a “slightly older consumer” - namely, the ‘80s and ‘90s kids (now all grown up) who have nostalgia for the taffy candy, and who Airheads’ research shows use these sweet treats as an afternoon pick-me-up. More on that later!

Chad Broude, co-founder and chief creative officer at Highdive says, “We wanted to elevate the brand by raising the creative bar but also by speaking to a now larger generational span of Airheads fans that includes an older demographic. The previous positioning was aimed at a younger audience. It was also important for us to find ways to show up in culture in organic, disruptive ways.”

These disruptive methods have involved inventing the world’s first underwater vending machine and hosting an AI film festival at Halloween. “Being playful and having more fun has always been part of Airheads’ DNA,” adds Chad. “Under the creative brand platform, ‘Airheads Have More Fun’, the brand is all about injecting more levity into a world that’s seemingly so serious and missing pure fun. We have an ‘always on’ approach that lets us hijack cultural moments like the chicken sandwich wars, the Airheads shake TikTok trend and more.”

LBB’s Ben Conway caught up with Chad and Craig to talk all about these projects and the new approach that’s bringing playfulness to adults, as well as the next generation of Airheads fans.

LBB> So where did the recent strategy to get adults back in touch with their playful sides and nostalgia come from? 

Craig> There were two main insights that influenced our strategy. The first being that our original consumers who loved Airheads as kids in the 1980s and 1990s have grown up.  Today, we are the same great product and we knew we had an opportunity to drive relevance with a consumer group that already had a ton of affinity for our brand.  

A second insight was born from an extensive consumer segmentation our company did a few years ago. In short, we know there is a key consumer occasion in the afternoon treat space. Consumers often turn to candy for their afternoon break whether it’s for an energy boost to get to the end of their workday or a quiet me-time moment to de-stress. Because the Airheads brand stands for having more fun, we knew that we were uniquely positioned to deliver for consumers. We can elevate these daily moments bringing a little more fun and joy to their everyday routines. 

Chad> We’ve been able to activate against this afternoon-treat audience in a variety of ways, whether it’s been looking for opportunities inspired by existing social conversations and trends, or tapping into our audience’s core memories about their early experiences with the brand. And there are no shortage of ways Airheads is looking to continue to help people have more fun in their everyday lives, whether by removing a barrier, disrupting the routine, or leaning into the brand’s equities. 

LBB> Let’s delve into some of these campaigns - Airheads hosted an AI film festival last year, what was the strategy behind that? 

Chad> With Airheads on a mission to inject levity wherever we can, we wanted to do just that during the spooky season. And there was one fairly new culture topic in 2023 that had our 18-34 audience scared: artificial intelligence.

At the time, people were getting creeped out by poorly made AI creations circulating online and sharing their reactions with friends for fun. We tapped into that trend so Airheads could make something seemingly scary into something fun. Seeing how Airheads motivated others to play around with AI for the first time was incredible. We especially loved the entries from AI novices. Our winning entry came from someone very new to the art who was able to put a spooky twist on a story featuring Airheads’ famous red balloon.

LBB> You also invented the first underwater vending machine - how did you bring that to life? And what lessons did you learn from that project that you’re bringing to future campaigns? 

Chad> When ideating for summer fun, we knew we needed to find a way to remind people that Airheads and the pool are the perfect pairing. We could have made an OLV of someone eating an Airheads bar poolside and called it a day, but that's no fun. We had lots of crazy and fun ideas but we kept coming back to the underwater vending machine. It's entertaining, it's never been done before, and what better way to get adults back in the pool than to literally put Airheads in the pool? The Airheads team immediately loved the idea. 

Lots of R&D went into the machine design and build. It was important that it looked like a traditional vending machine so people understood the idea, but we had to figure out a safe way to dispense the Airheads underwater. That's where our partner Hungry Man came in. They designed the air propulsion system. We started by testing the air propulsion on a small machine in a backyard pool and after a few tweaks, scaled it up to the traditional vending machine size and designed the exterior to look like a vending machine.

If we learned anything from this, it's that if you believe in the idea there’s always a way to bring it to life. We had the idea last summer, but it came a bit too late and we couldn't pull it off for summer 2023. We brought it back for summer 2024, this time earlier in the year to give us enough time to do it right. We met with countless production partners and lawyers and kept fine-tuning the program until all the pieces fit in place.

The other takeaway is the importance of the client relationship. A lot of marketers would have passed on the idea based on feasibility alone but the Airheads team trusted us and gave us the space to roll up our sleeves and make it happen.

LBB> Another campaign, ‘Shaking Factory’, was sparked by a TikTok trend - how important is Airheads’ social media identity today? How do you curate the Airheads image and interact with consumers online?

Craig> We love seeing our fans interact with Airheads. The brand and the candy have a rich history, filled with moments where fans interacted with the product. Social media gives them an outlet to rediscover and express those moments. We loved seeing the ‘shake’ trend ignite. Our goal is to help consumers have more fun, so we jumped in, not trying to hijack the moment, but working with the creator and all the fans to take the fun to a new level. 

That’s our approach to social. We want to provide a catalyst to having more fun in a world where fun and playfulness are too often underutilised. 

LBB> Why do these playful activations work so well for the Airheads brand?

Craig> Having fun and being playful is in our brand’s DNA. Since our early days of Airheads Bars at the pool to our broad portfolio including Xtremes today, having more fun has been our guide. The key for us has been tapping into those memories of fun and bringing them to life in a way that resonates with adults. IRL activations have been key to forging renewed (or new) connections with consumers.

Chad> The Airheads brand is all about having more fun. The more we can prove that out and give people a chance to experience that first-hand - whether it's having a bodybuilder shake your Airheads, creating your own AI film or purchasing an underwater vending machine for your pool - the more effective we are at breaking through.

And if it's a good idea, it's easy to carry through to multiple channels. We have underwater vending machine content running all summer in OLV, social, etc. 

LBB> Airheads is using this nostalgia factor, but how is the brand also targeting the next generation of Airheads fans?

Craig> There are three things we think about:

Embracing our roots – a lot of consumers come into the brand through Airheads Bars and often in a snack bar-type situation where they get the rare opportunity to make the purchase decision for themselves. We need to ensure we don’t take our eye off the ball there and maintain a strong physical presence in those environments.  

Innovating – people have their favourite candy forms and brands, but they don’t necessarily want the exact same thing all the time. By regularly innovating and bringing new twists on the tried-and-true favourites, we’re able to drive excitement with our consumers. We are very excited to be launching new Airheads Sour Bars later this year and expect it to be a big hit.  

Communication – as we think about marketing, we must ensure we’re meeting them where they are. Whether it’s using influencers or integrating with gaming platforms, we are constantly evolving where and how we’re communicating with consumers. 

 

LBB> What have been some of your most fulfilling moments from the Highdive x Airheads partnership so far? 

Chad> ‘Candy Sandy’ was special because it was our first activation with Airheads. The fried chicken sandwich wars were heating up and we had this crazy idea to make an Airheads version. Together with Airheads, we went for it and it was a huge success. That was a great way to break into a new relationship and build up momentum to keep doing great work.

‘Underwater Vending Machine’ was another favourite because the idea had been around for so long. That campaign was a culmination of all the things we've learned along the way. It's our best performing activation to date and we were able to leverage it into a summer-long, 360-degree campaign. Seeing everyone's hard work and persistence pay off was especially fulfilling.

And of course, the 15-second ‘Reflex’ spot - just because it’s incredible.

Craig> We have had really fun executions together – from the chicken wars to the vending machine – we've partnered together to push ourselves to provide an unexpected way for our fans and our consumers to have more fun. But, as amazing as the results have been, the fulfilling moments have come more in the discussions that have led to those executions. We’ve pushed each other as we’ve worked to define the strategies, the tactics, and the details. Having a partnership where we can have those discussions has been the key to unlocking the results. 

LBB> Equally, what have been some of the most interesting creative challenges? How did you overcome them? 

Chad> There's an inherent association between candy and childhood and the Airheads  brand that is all about being more fun. Yet we've been purposeful about ageing up with our audience from years past and focusing on reaching adults. Airheads now has captured the hearts of a couple generations. Those two can be at odds sometimes and can lead to work that skews too juvenile. It's been an iterative process to strike the right balance of fun and playfulness that resonates with adults. We've conducted brand workshops to help hone the tone of voice, we test when we can to get consumer input, and we're constantly optimising our work year over year based on learnings. 

Everything stems from the brand foundation. We leverage Airheads’ distinctive assets and always aim to provide that glimpse of fun in your day. We'll then mine for cultural insights and push ourselves to think outside of the box for each project. Levering the brand foundation and layering in cultural relevance allows us to show up fresh while staying true to the Airheads brand.  

LBB> What’s next for Airheads and Highdive? 

Craig> Hard to say – there's a wide world of fun out there, we can’t wait to explore it together.