PHOTO GALLERY: NYC Gets a Taste of M&M’S Caramel
NEW YORK — Step aside square-shaped, square-wrapped caramel candies. There’s a new, circular caramel candy in town.
M&M'S Caramel Chocolate Candies made its official debut May 10 at a special launch held at M&M'S World in Times Square — one of the most famous "squares" of all.
Convenience Store News was among a small, select group of media representatives who got the inside scoop on the M&M'S brand’s newest sidekick and the national advertising campaign titled "#UnsquareCaramel" that will introduce "Caramel," a walking, talking cube of caramel who is the epitome of square.
"Caramel is such a nostalgic and comforting flavor and its popularity is on the rise with pairings like coffees and other specialty foods. We are delighted to now give our fans a chance to experience it through the fun and colorful world of M&M'S," commented Tanya Berman, brand director for M&M'S. "It took years to develop the technology and machines required to get the delicious soft caramel ingredient into our signature hard candy shell. And we think it was worth the wait!"
Consumers were first introduced to Caramel during the 2017 MTV Movie & TV Awards on May 7 in a television commercial titled "Group Talk." Caramel — voiced by actor and comedian David Cross — is shown interviewing to join the colorful cast of M&M'S spokescandies. Despite his old-timey traditionalism and social awkwardness, the other M&M'S try to "get him out of shell, so to speak," and teach him how to be like the other spokescandies, according to Mars Chocolate North America.
The M&M'S Caramel media launch May 10 also served as a kickoff for "Times Unsquare," an experimental event taking place May 11, which transforms iconic billboards in the famous square into an M&M'S ARcade, an innovative, augmented reality gaming arcade. The M&M'S ARcade is designed to tap into a nostalgic feeling and bring back memories of a classic old-school arcade.
From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday, Father Duffy Square, located between 46th and 47th streets between Broadway and 7th Avenue, brings the M&M'S ARcade to life. Fans and visitors can download the free augmented reality app Blippar from the Android or iOS store and scan one of the featured billboards to transform it into a fun and interactive, vintage arcade game experience.
However, the vintage arcade game experience won’t be limited to just Duffy Square. Anyone who downloads the Blippar app and scans a package of M&M'S Caramel can unlock the ARcade experience and play games like "Square Smash" and "Caramel Crawl" from their mobile device.
The M&M'S #UnsquareCaramel campaign will also be supported with print and digital advertising.
M&M'S Caramel Chocolate Candies are now available at retailers nationwide in Sharing Size and Sharing Size Stand-Up Pouch packaging. Singles packaging will be available later this summer.
