The fantastic Minecraft adventure for the legendary nougat block.
Welcome to
The Target → The Gen Z audience with an appetite for digital exploration
The SNICKERS account under BBDO prompted the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications to find creative ways to communicate a SNICKERS bar, enter the metaverse, reach the Gen Z market.
After an initial 30 interviews, we discovered key points in which lead to further research and the findings that:
Gen Z is the biggest generation for gaming, and values digital experiences from brands
Gen Z uses the Internet to delve deep into their strange and unique curiosities
Many respondents could not properly identify all ingredients within the SNICKERS bar, with the common exclusion of nougat.
In further surveys only 1 out of 60 respondents (a professional chef) knew what nougat was made of.
Minecraft as a storytelling platform to communicate the SNICKERS ingredients:
Block of Cut Copper
= Chocolate
Block of Raw Gold
= Peanuts
Honey Block
= Caramel
End Stone
= Nougat
The player spawns on SNICKERS Spire, where their Snack Friend wishes to get a SNICKERS from the Vending Machine
However, the Vending Machine lacks a certain ingredient. The player drops down the Spire to search SNICKERVILLE for Nougat.
The Bake Boss - the Quest for Cocoa Beans
Upon entering SNICKERVILLE, the first place the user stumbles across is the bakery, whose cakes act as a health source for the player. Speak to the Bake Boss, and discover that not even he knows where nougat comes from. However, he can network you with a colleague who may be able to help, on one condition:
Someone in SNICKERVILLE stole his cocoa beans.
Determine the thief, and return the beans to advance to the next stage.
A little investigative work
Exploring SNICKERVILLE will lead the player to notice some interesting details: cakes scattered throughout, sheep that step on music-playing pressure plates, and a resident that is suspects her neighbor stole the cocoa beans.
Acting on Carmelita’s speculation, the player will then explore the neighbor’s luxury mansion.
At first glance, there are no cocoa beans to be found within the chests, but discovering a trap door will lead you to an elaborate dungeon basement.
Clearly, someone in SNICKERVILLE has gone to great lengths to protect the cocoa beans.
The Cocoa Bean Culprits
Carmelita was right – her neighbors, the sheep, did in fact steal the cocoa beans. Recovering the beans here will lead to a secret path back to Carmelita’s farm.
You have been accepted into SNICKERVILLE University -
The Excavation for the Ancient Nuts
Thanks to the Bake Boss’s letter of recommendation, the player is allowed into SNICKERVILLE’s most prestigious University. Here, many scholars congregate and study the ingredients of SNICKERS.
The Journalist and Biologist are playing on their switch.
The Agriculturalist is trying to milk a chocolate cow.
The Biologist is studying what makes zombies so hungry.
Yet the Dean of Nuts is nowhere to be found.
The Designer’s latest furniture piece, made to resemble a chocolate bar, can be flipped to discover one of the secret staircases which lead to the roof of the University, where the Dean of Nuts has been awaiting your visit.
Upon the retrieval of the Ancient Nuts, the Dean of Nuts will await your return by the SNICKERVILLE University docks. Provided with a boat, you are given instructions to row down the river towards Antarctica, where a Spirit Guide will give you further instructions.
The Voyage to Antarctica -
where sticky caramel is stored
in icebergs
The Spirit Guide is a large bird who uses the icebergs of Antarctica as a refrigerator for sticky caramel, a sort of glue for nest building.
However, polar bears around the area scare the Spirit Guide away from the storage area. Retrieving and returning the sticky caramel, the Spirit Guide promises to fly you towards the source of nougat.
Slippery parkour towards the iceberg
Be careful, that polar bear is hungry.
At the heart of the ice dungeon maze lies a chest containing the sticky caramel.
The Spirit Guide thanks you for your courage, and flies you to another avian friend of theirs.
The source of all nougat? Chickens.
High in the sky, the player is taken to an entire cloud made out of nougat. Here, they learn the ingredients within SNICKERS nougat:
Egg whites, and a little bit of sugar. The nougat block is collected, and the player can be flown back down to the SNICKERS Spire.
Congratulations!
Snack Friend is as happy as can be!
Consider this pursuit satisfied. The player can still linger in SNICKERVILLE for as long as they choose, and complete side quests for music discs.
Other than Nougat Pursuit, the architecture of SNICKERVILLE, its charming characters, and SNICKERS Spire as a spawn point can serve as a space for other future adventures as well.
Total overview of the Nougat Pursuit storyline:
1. The Spawn of Something Great
Opening in SNICKERS Spire
Speaking with Snack Friend
Diagnosing the vending machine
Dropping down to begin Nougat Pursuit
2. The Quest for Cocoa Beans
Talking to the Bake Boss
Village investigation
Snooping around Woolsworth Manor
Dungeon skeleton fight
Secret sheep exit and cocoa bean return
3. The Excavation for Ancient Nuts
Arriving at SNICKERVILLE University
Talking with scholars, puzzle to the roof
Meeting with the Dean of Nuts
Joining the excavation dig
Dungeon skeleton fight
Retrieving ancient nuts
Dean of Nuts grants you a boat
4. The Search for Sticky Caramel
Boat voyage to Antarctica
Climbing to top of Mount Vinson
Speaking with the Spirit Guide
Slippery ice parkour, polar bear obstacle
Dungeon skeleton fight
Maze to sticky caramel
Spirit Guide’s acceptance
5. The Explanation is Eggs
Spirit Guide’s flight to nougat cloud
Grand hallway of chickens, nougat chest
Flight back to SNICKERS Spire
Restoring vending machine
Snack Friend’s thank you
Firework celebration
