Twist, Lick, Dunk
Read the story- Brand
- Oreo
- Year
- 2012
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Food & Drink
- Mechanic
- Arcade & Action
- Platform
- App
- Agency
- PikPok
Objective
Oreo's 100th birthday fell at a moment when shoppers were looking at their phones more than the shelf, so the brand needed a way to put its signature twist-lick-dunk ritual in front of them there. A game let Mondelēz turn a century of flavors and limited editions into an ongoing mobile touchpoint and social competition, and — as Mondelēz later described it — test whether branded content could pay for itself instead of just costing money.
Solution
Cookies fly toward the player one after another, and each is cleared with a sequence of swipes: twist the halves apart, lick off the cream, dunk the cookie in a glass of milk, with bonus points for landing all three cleanly. Rare flavors and limited editions picked up along the way fill an in-game "OREO Spotter Guidebook" and unlock boosts that raise the score. Coins earned during play buy those boosts and new settings to play in, including a kitchen, France, China, and a fantastical Cookie World. At the end of a round, players see where they rank on a Facebook leaderboard, can share their score, and get push alerts that pull them back for the next one.
Results
About 7 million downloads and more than 5 billion cookies virtually dunked; Mondelēz has said the game returned twice what it cost through in-app purchases and ads, with average time in the app around 40 minutes per session; by 2013 it ranked #1 in 12 countries and top 10 in 36.
- 1
The player downloads the free app, opens on an Oreo-branded start screen, and a tutorial screen walks through the three core gestures — twist, lick, dunk — before the first round.
- 2
Each round runs on a 60-second timer set in a kitchen scene, with a milk glass at the bottom of the screen and up to four Oreo cookies flying across at once.
- 3
The player swipes each cookie three times in sequence: one swipe twists it apart, a second swipe licks the cream filling away, and a third swipe closes it and dunks it into the milk, scoring points for each step.
- 4
Completing the full twist-lick-dunk sequence on a single cookie before it's gone earns a bonus reward instead of the individual step points.
- 5
As the round progresses, cookies appear faster and more frequently, shrinking the time available to complete each sequence.
- 6
Alongside standard cookies, rare flavors and limited editions from Oreo's history appear, worth different point values, and every variety caught is logged in an in-game collectible guidebook.
- 7
The player's collected flavors power selectable boosts that improve performance in the next round.
- 8
Rounds earn coins that buy boosts and unlock new scene locations — such as France, China, and Cookie World — in a shop that also offers some items for real money.
- 9
After the timer ends, the player sees their score, compares it against friends and other players on a Facebook-connected leaderboard, and can share the result to Facebook or Twitter.
- 10
Between sessions, the game sends push notifications with Oreo brand updates.
