Case Study: How Sunfeast Fantastik! combined on-ground activations and digital buzz to help Gen Z move on from their exes

Sunfeast Fantastik!'s #DumpYourExCess campaign for Valentine’s Day took an unconventional approach by focusing on break-ups, encouraging young people to let go of mementoes from past relationships. The campaign combined mobile activations, with the Dump Your Ex-Cess truck visiting colleges and youth hangouts, and digital engagement, inviting participants to share their experiences online. Influencers like Harshit Chhajed and Cassy Pereira helped drive the initiative, which sparked conversations around emotional closure and moving on. With over 10 million organic video views, 14 million reach, and earned media coverage, the campaign aimed to connect with its audience while reinforcing the brand’s 'Raise the Bar' message.

Here is a case study on it.

Category introduction

The Indian chocolate industry, valued at approximately Rs. 20,000 crores, is growing at a rapid CAGR of ~11% YoY. Despite this expansion, the market remains highly consolidated, with the top three manufacturers holding a major market share.

With high brand loyalty, significant media spends and strong retail dominance by legacy players, it is challenging for new entrants to break through and capture market share.

Brand introduction 

Sunfeast Fantastik! is a new entrant into the Coated Wafers category. The brand, known for its Chocosticks, launched Sunfeast Fantastik! Choco Almond and Sunfeast Fantastik! 4D All India in August 2024. These launches were backed by a marketing approach designed to create high engagement and organic reach.

The brand’s purpose is to elevate everyday chocolate experiences. With the tagline 'Raise the Bar', the brand aims to introduce bold, innovative experiences to consumers at accessible price points.

Summary

Breaking the Valentine’s Day Norm

The brand turned heartbreak into a celebration with its #DumpYourExCess campaign. Recognising that youth often struggle to move on after a break-up, clinging on to gifts and memories that hold them back, the brand invited young hearts to break free from this emotional baggage. The playfully liberating mobile activation and digital campaign motivated young hearts to let go of painful reminders of their toxic past and move on to #RaiseTheBar. 

Challenge

How can an emerging brand like Sunfeast Fantastik! carve out a unique space in this cluttered and competitive industry?

Problem statement/objective 

• Category differentiation - On Valentine’s Day, an important event for the category, while other brands talk about Love or Singlehood, the brand sought to differentiate itself through a fresh and bold approach - focusing on Break-ups, the step that bridges love and singlehood.

• Meaningful engagement – The TG resonates with the cause of 'moving on' and 'glowing up' after a breakup. #DumpYourExCess set out as not just a marketing campaign but a movement that celebrates self-love and confidence through closure and fresh starts.

• Own ‘Raise the Bar’ – Sunfeast Fantastik! needed to create a strong emotional association with its brand proposition.

Brief

Break through the clutter of chocolate brands on Valentine’s Day. Curate a unique campaign targeting break-ups for Valentine’s Week. Reach the TG by digital amplification of the campaign. Ensure that the brand campaign reaches the right audience to ensure a high engagement rate and brand recall.

Creative idea

The idea was to create a safe space for people to come and dump their ex’s memories and move on to Raise the Bar. People will come together and share their stories, any last messages for their ex and then support each other in letting go of their past and moving on.

This was executed through a phygital campaign, which will be discussed in the next sections. Through this campaign, the brand wanted to provide value to the participants:

• Emotional venting: Writing messages and publicly letting go helps in emotional closure.

• Community support: Connecting with others who are moving on and understand your journey reinforces confidence and positivity.

• Inspiration: Inspire others to let go of their past and Raise the Bar, sparking a cultural conversation.

Execution 

Social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, any other social media platforms  

Digital: SEO, ad words, ad placements, etc 

The campaign was executed through a powerful mix of on-ground, PR, digital and influencer-led activations.

Announcement – Two popular Instagram influencers, @aakhiri_pasta and @harshitchajjed announced the activity, inviting youth to come and dump their ex’s gifts and memories in the truck, and on the brand website. A campus ambassador program was also activated to invite college students to participate.

Mobile activation - The truck travelled to various relevant TG locations, such as colleges, high streets, youth hangouts, etc. Influencer Emcees, Harshit Chhajed and Cassy Pereira engaged with the crowd on the ground, creating authentic and meme-worthy moments for social media

Digital content – People shared ‘final goodbye’ messages for their exes on social media, driving engagement. Along with this, humorous and relatable content from the on-ground campaign was amplified on social media in a platform-first format.

Influencer collaboration – Influencers captured and shared highlights from the campaign, amplifying its impact across social media. This resulted in high organic reach and conversations.

Organic spottings and social media buzz – Organic spottings from people on the ground and memes from popular memefluencer pages flooded social media. The audience resonated with the cause and was happy to associate with it through their personal social media handles.

Results

Quantitative

The campaign delivered massive organic engagement.

Organic performance

Video views – 10 million +

Reach – 14 million +

Effective engagement – 300k+

Earned media coverage – Rs. 46L+

Paid results

Video Views – 18 million +

Reach – 36 million +

Effective engagement – 600k+

Effective engagement Rate – 4%

Anuj Bansal, VP & Marketing Head, Chocolates, Coffee, and Confectionery, ITC Limited said, “Valentine’s Day is often about celebrating love by showering one another with gifts and chocolates, but we wanted to shift the focus to something just as important, letting go of old memories and prioritizing self-love.

This Valentine’s Day, Sunfeast Fantastik! encouraged young hearts to embrace the freedom of moving on with our bold and engaging ‘Dump Your Ex-Cess’ campaign. With the support of our agency partner, WLDD, we transformed heartbreak into empowerment. This initiative inspires individuals to let go of the past, moving on and Raising the Bar for how they approach love and relationships.

The response has been overwhelming, especially from the younger audience. We are confident that this initiative will continue to resonate and create a lasting impact."