Mar's Wrigley Tackles Overthinking With Nostalgia and Meme Culture

OEFY®, the Mars-owned brand which includes Orbit, Extra, Freedent, and Yida, has launched its latest global creative campaign, ‘Total Overthink of The Head’. The new campaign is the next phase of Mars Snacking’s ‘Chew Good’ platform, a long-term strategy designed to recruit new audiences by reframing gum chewing as a mental reset ritual.

Despite not having lived through the 80s, younger adults are increasingly turning to borrowed nostalgia for comfort, which is driving renewed popularity of iconic tracks across internet culture. Building on this, at the heart of Total Overthink of the Head is a humorous reimagining of Bonnie Tyler’s instantly recognisable Total Eclipse of the Heart. The campaign is rooted in the behavioural insight that young people are prone to everyday moments of overthinking, shaped by the demands of daily life and online experiences. From questioning new haircuts, to being left on read, these small spiral moments now play out daily across youth culture.

Rolling out through a strategic mix of OLV, Social, OOH and Omni shopper, the campaign appeals directly to a new generation, leaning into the universal language of funny memes and GIFs to express emotion and reset. Campaign content features the latest generation of chewers navigating familiar situations, supported by shortform, relatable overthinking moments and well-known internet memes (including Galaxy Brain, Mullet Sheep and Chill Dog).

To build its OEFY brand with a younger audience, Mars Snacking is launching a series of campaign extensions in 2026, each pulling a different lever of the PESO model (paid, earned, shared and owned). ‘Total Overthink of the Head’, developed in partnership with Omnicom, led by BBDO Chicago, acts as the plan’s paid amplification engine. Additional campaign extensions, designed to create a holistic impact across the marketing ecosystem, were developed in partnership with adam&eve\TBWA and include:

Chew Ratings: A playful rating system where everyday overthinking situations are measured by a number of pieces of gum. Visually engaging and impactful, the situations include awkward conversations and relatable teen dilemmas. The format will appear across OOH, including reactive cultural moments.

Channel Your Inner Goat: A TikTok-first live experience where creators and their audiences interact with the ultimate chilled masters of chewing – goats. Audiences can “feed” their overthinking worries via laser cut leaves to the goats, turning everyday spirals into fun, shareable content that shows them how to chew it all away.

Rankin Carroll, Chief Brand Officer at Mars Snacking said: “We believe growth comes from building brands that earn their place in culture by showing up in ways that feel distinctive and connected. Across the OEFY communications ecosystem, from Total Overthink of the Head to our Channel Your Inner Goat activation, we’re creating a joined-up system of ideas with no dead ends, designed to travel across culture, channels and moments, and invite co-creation. It’s an insight led approach that helps us stay relevant at scale and build long term value amongst a discerning new generation of audiences to drive our future growth.”

Josh Gross, Chief Creative Officer, BBDO Chicago said: “It’s tough being young in 2026, there’s a lot to overthink. Chewing gum won’t solve the big stuff, but it can sit alongside those everyday moments when you just need to reset. Don’t take our word for it though, take the words of a bunch of memes set to the timeless tones of Bonnie Tyler."

The latest evolution in the ‘Chew Good’ platform continues Mars Snacking’s transformation of the gum category, building on the foundation of freshening and anchoring its future in the growing consumer demand for accessible mental wellness and mood management solutions.

Credits

MARS WRIGLEY

Rankin Carroll - Chief Brand Officer

Fabio Ruffet – ECE VP Brands & Content

Ellyse O’Connor - Regional Senior Brand & Content Manager

AGENCY | BBDO CHICAGO

Jennifer Neumann – CEO

Josh Gross – Chief Creative Officer

Daale Carter - Global Chief Client experience officer

Robin Laurens – Executive Creative Director

Jonathan Fussell - Executive Creative Director

Zé Baldin – Creative Director

Gabriel Barrea - Creative Director

Eli Terry - Creative Director

Mike Costello - Creative Director

Peter McCormick - Associate Creative Director

Caitlin Madlinger - Associate Creative Director

Erin Welsh – Director of Creative Services

Lucie Lavrard - Business Director

Larry Gies – Chief Strategy Officer

Landi Day – Chief Strategy Officer

Elizabeth Brown – Group Strategy Director

Livi Carlton – Senior Strategist

Lily McNamara – Executive Producer

Stefeni Tormanen - Sr Producer

Alexandria Aikens - Producer

Courtney Jenkins - Executive Music Producer

Vanessa Vasquez – Business Affairs Manager

Karen Smith – Talent Manager

PARTNERS

PRODUCTION: O POSITIVE

Director: Brian Billow

Executive Producers: Ralph Laucella, Marc Grill

Line Producer: Adriana Cebada Mora

DP: Tobias Schliessler

PD: Jamie Vickers

EDIT: ARCADE

Jeff Ferruzzo - Editor

Sila Soyer - Managing Partner, EP NY & LA

Fanny Cruz - Executive Producer, NY

Andrew Cravotta - Sr. Post Producer

Alexey Novikov - Assistant Editor

COLOR: JAMM

Colorist: Paul Yacono

Color Assist: Aldo Rosati

Color Producer: Emma Beren

VFX: JAMM

VFX Supervisor: Mike Wigart

Comp Lead: Patrick Dirks

Comp Artist: Patrick Ferguson

Comp Artist: Brady Doyle

Comp Artist: Sean Cox

Comp Artist: Caitlin Roth

2D Character Animator: Cecilia Fletcher

Design Artist: Jonathan Ficcadenti

Design Artist: Kasey Amato

DMP Artist: Nathan McKenna

Lead CG Artist: Brian Burke

CG Artist: Ana Blanco

CG Artist: Goran Ognjanovic

CG Artist: Greg Mawicke

CG Artist: Ian Kent

CG Artist: Nico Sanghrajka

CG Artist: Shao Chen

CG Artist: Stefano Giorgetti

CG Artist: Yu Fujii

CG Artist: Elyse Dior

CG Artist: Ben Martin

Lead Animator: Stew Burris

Animator: Taylor Muhoberac Pryor

Animator: Douglas Litos

Producer: Anne-Marie DePauw

Executive Producer: Asher Edwards

MUSIC

Cover/ Parody by: CAYA Music and Sound

Sound Design by: CAYA Music and Sound

Final Mix: CAYA Music and Sound

Ben Einziger: ECD

Kiki Einziger: EP

“Total Eclipse of the Heart”

Written by Jim Steinman

Courtesy of Round Hill Music