Birthday parties are big business, especially parties for children. One of America’s favorite candy companies, Hershey, recently released birthday-themed Hershey Kisses specifically for these celebrations.
Research shows American parents spend an average of $300 on their child’s birthday celebration. British parents are spending about the same, averaging $289 on birthdays. While those statistics may be surprising, here’s the real eyebrow raiser: One in seven parents say they’ve thrown a birthday party for a child that’s cost $1000. (That’s not a typo. $1000.)
The new product
Since parents are gaga for parties, it makes sense for Hershey to offer a birthday-themed product. The new products are essentially goody bags filled with Kisses that come in a variety of colors to fit any birthday theme.
One of the many avenues that Hershey used to market its new product is sponsored blog posts. The company teamed up with 15 family, food and lifestyle bloggers and asked them to write sponsored posts to showcase the birthday products in action.
Here’s what made the campaign stand out:
Stunning visuals
The world of digital media is propelled by great visuals, which is why Hershey asked bloggers to take great pictures and showcase them throughout a conversational blog post.
One of the bloggers, Jesenia Montanez, has seven pictures of Hershey’s new product. She even includes a picture of the Kisses displayed at Walmart, which helped Hershey release the new product earlier this year.
Check out the post “Easy Birthday Party Décor for Any Theme” to see all of the pictures Montanez used.
Providing inspiration
This blogger and social influencer provides inspiration for others.
Many sponsored posts tout a product or give a review of a business, like a restaurant or bar. This post gives other DIY moms some birthday ideas. She shows others how she incorporated Hershey Kisses into a princess birthday party, and provides pictures of each idea.
For example, she uses a plastic tiara and some Hershey Kisses to make party favors.
She also compliments Hershey’s website for providing a party favor idea. Montanez followed a DIY post on the company’s website to create princess wands.
Odds are, few people knew that Hershey’s had a site that offered party inspiration.
Cross-promotion on social
The Hershey campaign doesn’t stop with sponsored blog posts; it spans across social media too. Montanez, who created the post mentioned above, also shared the article and an image on her Pinterest page.
The sponsored post fit naturally in her “Party Ideas” board, which has 58 pins on it and more than 10,000 followers. It sits alongside other visual posts that feature things like football party ideas and DIY posts to make Barbie cupcakes. Take a look at the Pinterest board.
Sponsored campaigns that use multiple platforms can reach a larger audience, increase brand awareness and drive website traffic, all of which were goals for the Hershey campaign that introduced the world to a new birthday party favor.
