Dive Brief:

• Spangler Candy launched the first advertising campaign for Dum Dums lollipops in 30 years, featuring the tagline "Make Life Pop." The creative came out of research that found that lollipops give people optimism in our uncertain times, MediaPost reported.
• The ad campaign includes two 30-second spots on digital and 15-second versions for social media. The Pittsburgh-based advertising agency Smith Brothers developed the creative, which uses Dum Dums to add color to black-and-white animations reminiscent of Shel Silverstein books.
• While the lollipop brand has been around since 1924, the candy line faces deeper competition against marketers with larger marketing budgets. "Dum Dums is one of those rare, iconic brands that is already so loaded with positive emotion... Our job was to keep it simple — remind people what Dum Dums already means to them and then kind of get out of the way," Smith Brothers co-founder Lindsey Smith told MediaPost.

Dive Insight:

While Spangler Candy doesn't have a huge budget for the advertising campaign, it is relying on the iconic status of the 90-year-old Dum Dums brand to snag people's attention. The colorful product is prominently featured in the old-timey drawings, making it pop on the page of these digital and social ads.

Evan Brock, director of marketing at Spangler Candy told MediaPost that the goal of the effort is to "deliver a pop of positivity to kids of all ages." In that way, the Dum Dums campaign resembles Mike's Hard Lemonade's summer campaign, "The Brighter Times," that aimed to help people cope with news fatigue and remind them of the "joy-spreading potential" of good news.

The positive campaign strategically arrives at the end of the back-to-school season and ahead of Halloween, when 10% of annual candy sales occur. The non-chocolate candy market will reach $11 billion this year, with sales growing 3% per year since 2013, according to research from Packaged Facts. The report predicts sales will jump more than 2% per year from 2018 to 2023.

Along with Dum Dums, other established candy brands have debuted fresh marketing efforts to stand out in the crowded space. Perfetti Van Melle's Chupa Chup lollipop brand and the Hershey Company's Jolly Rancher line are among some of the bigger names that have recently deployed compelling social media and influencer campaigns to reach younger consumers, as well as partnerships with major designers to promote their sweet treats amid increased competition in the candy market.