Twix Puppet Show Chases Dullness Away

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Twix’s “Two Is More Than One” campaign from Adam&Eve/DDB has given new energy to the brand’s advertising, and grabbed awards too. With its so-obvious-it’s-genius slogan and range of unusual and creative executions, it’s a campaign with buzz and energy. And now it’s back with another big swing. “Double Act” is a performance of 00s classic “Dilemma” by a pair of wooden ventriloquist’s dummies.

There’s no story, no camera tricks, no big reveal – just 90 seconds of bizarre, oddly hilarious vaudeville entertainment. It’s a delightfully different ad, and it lands well with the public, getting a very good 3.9-Star Rating on Test Your Ad Pro. Our demographic indicators suggest the ad plays exceptionally well with 35-54 year olds, the core audience who remember Nelly and Kelly Rowland’s original “Dilemma”.

But what makes this strange, surreal commercial work? It’s down to two factors. The first is showmanship. At System1 we talk a lot about showmanship as a creative and a commercial principle – advertising works because it puts on a show. Twix’s “Double Act” is a very literal demonstration of the showmanship idea – filming an act which could have been put on a hundred years ago, with staging and song choices that bring it into the 21st Century.

Showmanship elements in advertising work because they surprise and delight us, engaging our attention by giving us entertaining and unexpected new experiences. A pair of wooden puppets singing a 00s R&B jam with a sax solo at the end isn’t directly related to Twix – even if the “Two Is More Than One” tagline links them. But it’s a diverting spectacle only Twix is bringing you, and some of that surprise and happiness transfers to the brand.

The other crucial factor in this ad is dullness. Or rather, avoiding it. In Test Your Ad Pro we can see exactly how much our audience responds with each of the primary emotions we measure, including Neutrality – no emotional response at all. Neutrality is a curse for advertisers – as our Cost Of Dull report proves the duller your ad is, the more money you need to spend to see business impact. And as our latest Cure For Dull work shows, showmanship is one of the strategies that helps drive Dull away.

The response to “Double Act” proves it. The average neutrality for a US TV commercial is 37%. For Twix here, it’s only 14%. That puts it firmly in the least Dull (and most commercially efficient) category of ads.

It’s important to remember that you don’t have to be universally loved to avoid Dullness. Negative emotion can make an ad memorable too, and Twix here is both much more liked and a little more disliked than the average ad, squeezing Neutrality at both ends. (Some people just find wooden puppets creepy!). In this case, a little divisiveness is the spice the ad needs to be memorable, effective, and the opposite of Dull.