AdMiration feature: Airheads’ “Oh Snap​​”

For this week’s AdMiration feature, we looked at consumer response to Airheads’ “Oh Snap​​” ad, which revitalizes the brand's popular early 2000s head inflation ads in a new series of spots.

Read on to get our 3-2-1 snapshot of the ad (3 facts, 2 learnings and 1 reflection) and learn how their ad was received based on our data.

The ad opens to a close up of two girls in swimsuits about to take a bite of Airheads candy. As they take a bite, the camera pans out to show their heads, with water goggles still on, start to inflate. 

They gasp as their goggles snap off due to the pressure, one of which immediately flies at an older man relaxing in a chair by the pool. As it hits him with a loud snap! he sits up and looks around for the culprit, yelling, “Hey!”

The other girl’s goggles hit a vending machine filled with Airheads just right, and the candy begins pouring out of the machine. It then ricochets towards the same older man, now bending down to retrieve the first pair of goggles, hitting his butt with another snap! This causes him to whip around and shout, “C’mon!”  

The scene pans back to the vending machine, where two young pool attendants are seen quickly scooping up all the candy. 

The ad closes with a shot of Airheads bites and original Airheads, as the words “Airheads have more fun” are narrated and appear on screen.

3 facts

• This was a strong ad from Airheads, landing in the top 15% of US ads in ability to drive short-term sales (Sales Impact: 86) and in the top 40% in ability to drive brand equity over the longer term (Brand Impact: 63).

• This spot’s super power is that it is incredibly distinctive, driving great reach, pushing the brand top of mind and differentiating it through its unique approach (Distinctiveness: 4.2 vs. 3.8 norm, Claimed Attention: 4.1 vs. 3.9, Brand Distinctiveness: 3.9 vs. 3.7). 

• The ad does a great job at communicating the key message and the positive attributes that go along with it. The ad’s key message that “Airheads are the playful treat that turn any moment into pure fun” is seen as very clear (Key Message Clarity: 4.3 vs. 4.2 norm) and rubs off on viewers’ perspectives of the brand, with 36% of people spontaneously sharing how the ad conveyed how fun Airheads are, for instance: "What I like about the ad is that it made me laugh which really proves that Airheads bring fun."

2 learnings

• Distinctive brand assets (DBAs) are an excellent way to cue the brand. In this case, Airheads’ iconic inflating heads were referenced often as the way people identified the brand in the ad, with “heads” mentioned by 32% of people. This identifier helped the brand to be remembered in the ad (Unaided brand recall: 75% vs. 68% norm), with some people sharing: “The big heads were a main part of recognizing it,” “The peoples heads being blown up like a balloon” and “When their heads blew up with air in the beginning.”

• Not everyone needs to “get it” for an ad to be a success. In this case, older audiences didn’t react as strongly to the ad. Many didn’t like that the older man kept getting hit with the goggles, and others were unfamiliar with Airheads and didn’t recognize the brand in the ad, with double the average of viewers finding it confusing. But in comparison, viewers 45 and under (who were more likely to have experienced the early 2000s ads) liked it and found it to be very funny (Laughter: 34% vs. 8% norm), especially the inflated heads, the vending machine spilling Airheads and the man getting hit repeatedly by the goggles. Their familiarity with the Airheads candy and the brand’s ads over the years ensured that they understood this ad and found it funny — and that makes it a success.

1 reflection

Does your ad connect strongly with a broad audience? And does it need to? In this case, Airheads’ ad received polarizing emotional reactions and resonance scores among different age groups. But depending on what the brand is trying to achieve, winning with all ages is not necessarily a priority. 

In this case, Airheads’ goal was to create a revitalized ad series that appealed to both old fans (those who were kids during their early 2000s campaign) and new fans (the next generation of young people). Given this goal, the fact that the brand didn’t appeal as strongly to older demographics (45+) is not detrimental to the spot. 

The brand’s success lies in the younger demographic who enjoyed the ad, holding the majority of love reactions and very low levels of confusion and surprise throughout the spot, with some sharing: "I like the part where the guy gets hit with the Airhead and reacts like a normal person to having his relaxing afternoon ruined", "What I like about the ad is that it made me laugh which really proves that Airheads bring fun." and "I like when their heads blew up after they took a bite of the Airhead." 

Airheads brings back a nostalgic hit with their latest head inflation themed ads directed by Harold Einstein and created by Highdive, which includes a series of four spots — Grandpa Likes ‘Em, Oh Snap!, Inflate Off and Pumped Up — all running on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and more.

The refreshed spots are intended to appeal to both new and old fans, each concluding with the tagline “Airheads have more fun.”

On bringing the series back, Chad Broude, co-founder and co-CCO at Highdive shares: “When we asked consumers what they remembered most about Airheads, the head inflation ads came up again and again, completely unprompted. That kind of recall is a big opportunity. It reminded us that just because a brand has been around for a while, it doesn’t mean people are tired of it. In fact, it’s often the opposite. There was real love for the old head inflation campaign, so we brought it back in a way that feels fresh but still delivers on what fans remember and love.”

The head inflation theme will continue to appear across Airheads’ digital video efforts throughout the year.

Original and new fans of Airheads loved this revamped nostalgic spot from the brand, which landed in the top 15% of US ads in ability to drive short-term sales (Sales Impact: 86) and in the top 40% in ability to drive brand equity over the longer term (Brand Impact: 63).

It’s worth calling out that the spot performed even better among those ages 45 and under (Sales Impact: 89, Brand Impact: 82), who were the main target audience of this campaign.

The ad's strength is in reaching people and pushing the brand top of mind. This is because it's highly distinctive (Distinctiveness: 4.2 vs. 3.8 norm), super connected to the brand (Brand Distinctiveness: 3.9 vs. 3.7) and keeps people engaged throughout  (Claimed Attention: 4.1 vs. 3.9). Being successful in all 3 of these areas means the brand will do a great job of making the brand more salient.

Viewers are easily able to recall who the ad is for (Unaided brand recall: 75% vs. 68% norm), particularly due to the inflating heads — a clear DBA for Airheads, as they were referenced often (“Heads” was mentioned by 32% of people) as the way people identified the brand in the ad, with some sharing: “The big heads were a main part of recognizing it,” “The peoples heads being blown up like a balloon,” and “When their heads blew up with air in the beginning.”

Through all of this, the brand did an excellent job conveying their key message, that “Airheads are the playful treat that turn any moment into pure fun” (Key Message Clarity: 4.3 vs. 4.2 norm) — showing that brands don’t always have to convey functional benefits, but can instead use their ads to give viewers a sense of who they are instead. 

With the fun and playful visuals and narratives, a sense of it being a fun brand rubbed off so strongly that even over a third of viewers spontaneously talked about how fun Airheads are! 

Digging deeper into how viewers felt about the ad, is where we saw some polarizing reactions. Some people like it and find it very funny, while others are confused by it or don’t like it. 

The people who like it (those ages 45 and under) like the inflated heads, the vending machine spilling Airheads and the man getting hit repeatedly by the goggles, sharing things like: 

• "I like when their heads blew up after they took a bite of the Airhead."

• "I like the part where the guy gets hit with the Airhead and reacts like a normal person to having his relaxing afternoon ruined"

• "I liked the funny scenes like the goggles hitting the man. I liked when their heads got big after eating the candy."

• "What I like about the ad is that it made me laugh which really proves that Airheads bring fun."

The people who don’t like it didn’t like that the man keeps getting hit and/or didn’t understand what the ad is for since it doesn’t describe what Airheads are, sharing things like: 

• "It told me nothing about the product. I don't even have a clear idea what it looks like, if it's hard or soft, let alone what it tastes like."

• "It was not clear what the message was for this product."

• "I dislike almost all of it, I don't get it. How is a person almost getting seriously injured, and a vending machine getting damaged, its contents spilling out and people stealing it. How is that having more fun?"

This polarization can be seen in viewers’ emotional responses as well, though overall, many find it to be a very funny spot (Laughter: 34% vs. 8% norm) and a third of people (33%) spontaneously mention how funny the ad is when asked what they like about it. 

Audiences 45 and under had the biggest spike of love as the ad begins — zoomed in on the Airheads with the girls taking a bite. Laughter begins as the girls’ heads inflate and their goggles fly off and that laughter continues until the tagline comes on screen. The biggest spike of laughter is seen when the man is hit with the goggles the first time, showing how well this type of slapstick humor resonates with them. They have very low levels of surprise and confusion through the ad.

In contrast, older audiences showed no spike of love when the Airheads are introduced, but did evoke a spike of love a second or two later when the girls are eating the Airheads. A mix of love, laughter and surprise is seen when their heads inflate, then some laughter when the man gets hit twice with the goggles (but not as high as the younger audience), and also some surprise and confusion. We see the biggest spike of love when he gets hit for the second time and says “Come on!” as well as a mix of emotions for the vending machine spilling its contents, but not full laughter like under 45, ending with some love at the end card. 

What a fun, nostalgic revitalization from Airheads! What did you think? Let us know by interacting with our coverage of the ad on LinkedIn.

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