Perfetti Van Melle-owned Chupa Chups heads to Thorpe Park with N2O for a third year in a row, following last year’s success with Chupa Chups x Stranger Things challenge
Multi-award-winning creative brand experience agency N2O is bringing Chupa Chups’ new above-the-line campaign, ‘The Struggle Is Over’, to life this Halloween with an immersive brand experience at Thorpe Park Fright Nights, turning the familiar frustration of opening a lollipop into a series of playful new struggles.
The activity supports Chupa Chups’ launch of its new easier-to-open wrappers, which are rolling out across Europe. The wider campaign plays on the fact that opening a Chupa Chups has become something of an internet-famous struggle, culminating in the brand creating its hardest-to-open lollipop yet for content creators.
The Chupa Chups Struggle Exchange invites Fright Nights visitors to swap the struggle of opening their lollipop for a series of deliberately frustrating (and much more fun) challenges. Working in teams and against the clock, guests enter an immersive Halloween facility to try and conquer three familiar everyday annoyances: hunting through a mountain of laundry for a missing Chupa Chups sock, finding the elusive ends of stubborn rolls of tape, and unravelling a chaotic bundle of knotted headphone wires before the time runs out.
It follows N2O’s Chupa Chups x Stranger Things experience at Thorpe Park Fright Nights last Halloween, which recreated the Byers’ house and turned sampling into an immersive attraction. The activation was named Thorpe Park’s best-ever brand-led experience, achieved a 9.3/10 visitor rating and has since won Gold in the Entertainment & Sport category at the 2026 IPM Awards.
Scott Kilvington, Senior Client Development Director at N2O, said: “There’s something brilliantly simple about this campaign. People have been talking about the struggle of opening Chupa Chups for years, and the brand has listened and done something about it. Last year showed us how powerful Chupa Chups can be when the brand becomes part of the Fright Nights experience rather than simply appearing alongside it. This year we’re building on that, with an idea that comes directly from the product innovation.”
Kim McMahon, Brand Manager for Chupa Chups at Perfetti Van Melle, says: “Our activation is all about turning those everyday moments of frustration into opportunities for fun, inviting guests to take on a series of playful challenges for the chance to unlock sweet rewards. It’s the perfect way to bring Chupa Chups’ playful spirit to life and we can’t wait to help visitors put their everyday struggles behind them and embrace a little more fun this Halloween.”
The Chupa Chups Struggle Exchange will run at Thorpe Park during Fright Nights across the Halloween season.
