Nutri-Game
- Brand
- Chocapic
- Year
- 2020
- Objective
- Awareness
- Industry
- Food & Drink
- Mechanic
- Arcade & Action
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Merci-Michel
- With
- McCann Paris
Objective
Nestlé's Chocapic had quietly reformulated its cereal over 17 years, moving from what would have been a Nutri-Score D to a B today — a nutrition story that's a hard sell in a normal ad. Its core audience, parents who grew up on Chocapic (a brand since 1984, roughly 13 million boxes a year) and now choose what their own kids eat, needed a reason to care, so McCann Paris and Gang built something that spoke to former gamers in the language of their own childhood. The campaign also backed Nestlé's pledge that its whole cereal range would carry a Nutri-Score of A, B or C by the end of 2020.
Solution
Players open on a screen styled like a console cartridge booting up — "Chocapic® With Stereo Sound" — then read the setup: in the early 2000s, Chocapic's recipe would have scored a Nutri-Score D, and an invitation to "play and follow 17 years of recipe improvement." From there they take control of Pico, the brand's mascot, through a three-level 8-bit platformer, steering him to collect what the recipe gained more of — whole wheat, fibre, protein — while avoiding what it cut back, like sugar, salt and saturated fat. Clearing each level nudges the Nutri-Score forward, so beating the game means watching the score climb from D to B in real time. Alongside the game sits a downloadable "Manuel Utilisateur," a PDF styled like an old console instruction booklet, for players who want to dig into the details.
Results
+930% visits to the brand's .com site during the campaign, and +14% sales during the campaign period.
- 1
The game opens on a retro title screen styled like an early-2000s console cartridge, showing the CHOCAPIC® Nutri-Game logo, a "Stereo Sound" tagline, mascot Pico, and pixel-art level landscapes.
- 2
Before starting, the player reads the premise: the cereal's original early-2000s recipe would have scored a Nutri-Score D.
- 3
The brief states the goal: collect fiber and protein while cutting sugar, salt, and saturated fat to bring the recipe up to today's Nutri-Score B, tracing 17 years of reformulation.
- 4
Players can download a companion PDF, a "Manuel Utilisateur" styled as a console game manual, for more detail before playing.
- 5
The player takes control of Pico in an 8-bit side-scrolling platformer, starting with an introductory level that teaches the cereal's core ingredients and how they factor into the nutrition score.
- 6
The core loop has the player steering Pico through each level to pick up whole wheat, fiber, and protein while avoiding sugar, salt, and saturated fat, which count against the score.
- 7
Progress is structured as three levels, each closing out a Nutri-Score upgrade: level two moves the recipe from D to C, and level three from C to B, ending the game on today's actual formula.
- 8
A footer on the site offers the user manual, legal notices, and a link out to the CHOCAPIC® product page.
