The first step was understanding what KISSES meant within the context of everyday occasions, and it turns out the brand already had a place in people’s everyday moments. People were giving each other KISSES as a physical expression of caring and affection…and sharing it on Twitter and Facebook.

Under the “Show You Care” Content Idea we shone the spotlight on real families using HERSHEY’S KISSES, leveraging these stories to connect the brand’s promise to the everyday occasion. In short, it demonstrated how real people express their affection: any time you want to show you care, you can “Say it with a Kiss”.

Launched between May and November, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube were used to deliver socially driven stories through an effective media strategy by celebrating social stories of love, caring and appreciation with HERSHEY’S KISSES.

First, we deployed a short form cinematic film that showcased the brand message and effectively expanded the universe of possibilities where HERSHEY’S KISSES authentically demonstrated its purpose of expressing love and togetherness.

Then we turned to our consumers, spotlighting their own personal HERSHEY’S KISSES stories. Whether it was a secret ritual between mom and child, a family who recognizes that a birthday only happens once a year, or a father who leaves sweet gestures of love around the house, we used moments like these to drive brand relevancy.

It turns out you can say a lot with a KISS!

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• Target Audience: Mostly Millennial moms, engaged in creating special moments with friends and family, because they believe these are the measure of true happiness.

• Cultural Insight: Social listening revealed an already existing tendency to use KISSES to show affection and caring throughout the entire year, not just during holidays, so our connections task was to bridge the gap between consumer behavior and brand.

• Content Strategy: The campaign needed to feel as authentic as the consumer insight that inspired it. An “ad” approach was not an option, and neither was adding more TV to the plan. Research showed that the creative messaging and a TV-heavy media strategy weren’t resonating with consumers the way it once had nor driving the business. Instead, we created a social-only custom content campaign during the non-holiday seasonal period. For a brand that relied so heavily on Seasonal TV, this was a bold move.

When you think of HERSHEY’S KISSES you probably think of the classic Christmas “Bells” TV. That is because, for almost a decade, HERSHEY’S KISSES heavied-up its year-round TV advertising during key seasonal periods (Valentine’s Day, Easter and especially Holidays), which were make-or-break sales times in the category.

By playing it safe and owning the holiday season, we had set a trap for ourselves. Holiday accounted for 70% of the brand’s yearly sales. When the seasonal business became stagnant and household penetration declined one point each of the last four years, the Brand suffered greatly. Getting out of the trap meant increasing frequency of consumption beyond declining seasonal purchases and creating more everyday purchase occasions. But we also needed to think beyond non-holiday TV tactics, as this had not delivered on the business.

While the holiday season is a quintessentially classic opportunity to support human connections, Hershey’s KISSES needed a way to