May 19, 2008

Hershey's Bliss Joins The Experiential Party

Hershey's is making sure they're leveraging word-of-mouth marketing by making themed house parties the centerpiece for its kickoff of its new Hershey's Bliss chocolate line.

The "Taste of Bliss" parties mesh naturally with the brand's message and female target audience, says Hershey Director of Product Publicity Jody Cook. Rather than being touted as an end-of-day reward or escape, Bliss is positioned as a part of "celebrating and appreciating the everyday joys of life"--and for many women, time with family and friends is high up on the list of those joys, Cook points out.

In addition to samples of the three Bliss varieties, hosts received goodie bags for attendees. Those interested in having a party where attendees created their own "Blissful Memories Scrapbooks" could access downloads of scrapbooking supplies. Other hosts chose to use a "Bliss or That" trivia game theme.

The 10,000 Bliss parties held over the weekend of April 25, just as the chocolates were hitting store shelves, drew more than 129,000 attendees and resulted in postings of over 22,000 digital photos and 15,000 blog entries.

From Marketing Daily