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Easter eggs and Christmas chocolate assortments seem to have been around for ever, but these are being joined by an increasing variety of new chocolate gifts, often based on characters. Lindt’s gold bunny and Malteser’s reindeer have become familiar sights on the shelves at holiday periods, available in various sizes, multipacks and price points to suit all pockets.

After winning a 4-way pitch, our two agency partnership of Osborne Pike and Studio Davis were engaged by Nestlé to create a completely new range of ‘iconic’ hollow chocolate figures for their famous Smarties brand, a kids’ staple for generations.

Our research showed that with one or two exceptions the chocolate figures available are mostly generic, with only a cursory piece of branding to distinguish one Easter rabbit or Father Christmas from the next.

We worked from the start with an integrated 2D and 3D design team, building brand worlds with the distinctive assets of Smarties: the specific ‘lentil’ form, the rainbow of colours, the ‘shakeability’ and the brand promise - to stimulate imaginative play.

We shared early design ideas with Mums and Kids, a process that was turbocharged by the ability to create and quickly adapt 3D printed figures, allowing consumers to respond to the designs in a natural way (without getting sticky fingers…)

The insights led to a clear direction for the figures: recognisably ‘made from’ Smarties in terms of shape and colour, and with personality (or personalities, Smarties come as a team) combining simplicity, playfulness and imagination.

The final ‘Smarticon’ characters have large, friendly faces in the distinctive form of a Smarties ‘lentil'.

In order to provide a spectrum of chocolate weights and price points, the characters were designed as ‘lentils only’ (with 'bodies' provided by simple card supports) and also as complete figures with chocolate bodies, arms and feet (or flippers in the case of our Christmas penguins).

The faces are illustrated in a ‘Kawaii’ style, whose simple, cute and engaging quality fits perfectly with the brand personality. The Smarties lentil form is implicit in many of the facial features too.

Following the successful launch of Smarties Penguins for Christmas 2019 (which saw a 75% YOY increase over last season’s generic figures), Smarties Bunnies are now appearing in-store ready for Easter 2020.