Candy company Hershey & Co. is no stranger to digital marketing, targeting customers with banner ads based on data-driven segmentation and sending reorder reminders to loyal shoppers. Hershey also aims to magnify “seasonal opportunities” through mobile and web channels with eye-catching Christmas and Halloween displays.
But what about this Halloween, with cities across the country banning parties and large gatherings and advising against trick-or-treating? Halloween, normally the biggest season of the year for US candy sales ($4.6 billion in US candy sales last Halloween season), seems in jeopardy.
Hershey is aiming to address this crisis with a new digital marketing campaign through the launch of the website https://www.halloween2020.org/. In partnership with public health experts and partner retailers and alliances (e.g., Spirit Halloween, National Confectioners Association), Hershey has put together a “heat map” of the country, color-coded by COVID-19 transmission rates with a list of suggested Halloween activities (many involving candy) curated by color code. For example, in “red zone” hot spot states like North Dakota, the website recommends a Halloween candy pinata with the family or a candy scavenger hunt around the house. With these recommendations, Hershey is trying to establish a new place for candy this Halloween amidst our “new normal”.
Notably, the website has almost no Hershey branding (with the exception of a small note: “For more sweet and simple Halloween ideas, visit the Hershey Halloween Happiness Hub”). Rather, users see a large logo for Harvard Global Health Institute under the heat map and an even larger logo at the top of the page that says “Halloween like we’ve never seen". By taking an unbranded approach to the campaign, the goal is to define new occasions for candy of all kinds and build the category, which, if successful, will benefit not just Hershey but competitor candy companies like Mondelez and Nestle as well.
However, the ROI of this new unbranded digital campaign remains to be seen for Hershey and its partners; only time will tell if the campaign can save Halloween 2020 for these confectioners.
Sources: https://www.wsj.com/articles/hershey-maps-trick-or-treating-risks-in-hopes-coronavirus-wont-scare-off-halloween-sales-11600097275, https://www.halloween2020.org/, https://www.thehersheycompany.com/content/dam/corporate-us/documents/pdf/2018AnalystEvent_PostVersion.pdf
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