Nailed It

An interactive D&AD campaign for Twix, challenging consumers to "beat the factory" with a DIY assembly kit

Project Details

Client /

Twix

Direction /

Advertising

Art Direction

campaign

Credits /

Ulrich Alvarez

Main Software /

Photoshop

AI /

AI was Used Partially

Context /

Academic work

When /

2025

Award /

Best Campaign of Class

Overview

This one started as a college project, built as practice for a D&AD Award Show brief. The original idea, an "unassembled" DIY Twix kit, came out of a two person brainstorm with my good friend and fellow designer Ulrich Alvarez. Credit where it's due, he's part of why this concept exists. we designed everything at first and I redesigned them afterwards. Everything past the concept (the redesigned packaging, the new tagline, the full campaign, both activations) is a solo rebuild I did after the class ended.

Takeaway

This project showed me how far a simple psychological hook (people value what they build) can carry a whole campaign, from packaging to physical activations. It also pushed me past the original two person concept into owning a full system: strategy, packaging, out of home, and a real world activation I shot myself.

Problem

Twix has run the same "left Twix vs right Twix" bit for years. It's a fun line, but it's passive. You unwrap it, eat it, you're done in fifteen seconds. Nothing about the experience gives people a reason to stick around, talk about it, or post about it.

Why Did I Care

I'm the person who gets genuinely excited walking into Ikea, not for the furniture, but for the part where I get to build it myself. Assembling stuff makes me attached to whatever I end up with in a way that buying it pre-made never does. So when this brief landed on my desk, it clicked instantly: what if a candy bar worked the same way? I knew this idea would work on me, personally, no question. That's really the whole pitch: take something everyone already knows, add a small dose of "game," and turn a fifteen second snack into a memory people keep.

Philosophy

The core belief here is simple: when you build something yourself, even something small, you feel ownership over it. Not because it's better made than the factory version, but because a part of you went into it. That's the same reason IKEA furniture feels more "yours" than a piece you bought fully assembled, and it's the same reason a home cooked meal hits different than takeout. This campaign is built on that exact instinct. Give someone a small hand in creating their Twix, and suddenly it's not just candy anymore, it's something they made.

Insight

People care more about what they make than what they're handed. Pair that instinct with a candy bar people already love, and you've turned a snack into a project worth showing off.

Challenges

DIY ideas usually die on friction: shopping for ingredients, prep time, cleanup. The brief was to strip all of that out and still end up with something low cost, low effort, and high engagement enough to actually spread online.

My Solution

I designed a limited edition box holding one factory perfect Twix next to an "unassembled" kit: loose biscuit, caramel, and meltable chocolate. A 12 step recipe printed on the packaging walks people through building their own bar, with instructions written to be genuinely funny instead of just informative. New tagline: "Right's done, what's left?" playing directly off Twix's own left vs right bit. The pack is built to get people posting their results under #TwixNailedIt or #TwixFailedIt.

Beyond the pack, I built out the full campaign system:

A Reel mockup and an Instagram Story ad mockup (visual mockups only, no video produced)
Two campaign posters
A bus shelter poster mockup
An in-store stand design, shown as a mockup of how it would sit on shelf
A second activation: a standalone stand design placed in the Distillery District. I shot the location photo myself and composited my stand design into it, no AI involved in that one
A small number of AI generated visuals used only where needed for mockup purposes, each one labeled directly on the image so it's clear what's real and what's generated. Made in Nanobanana Pro.

Deliverables

Full packaging redesign (concept was collaborative, new execution is mine)
Campaign tagline and messaging
2 posters
1 bus shelter poster mockup
1 Reel mockup, 1 Instagram Story ad mockup
In-store stand design + store mockup
Distillery District activation, self-shot photography with stand design composited in
Select AI generated visuals, clearly labeled