The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

Dentsu Aegis Christmas Advertising

Hershey updates its classic holiday ‘Bells’ commercial for the social generation

Author

By Kyle O'Brien, Creative Works Editor

December 11, 2018 | 3 min read

Hershey’s ‘Bells’ is almost three decades old, but every year it appears on TV, it seems just as fresh as ever. A tree-shaped arrangement of Hershey’s Kisses rings We Wish You a Merry Christmas like handbells. Simple, timeless and engaging for its 15-second run.

Hershey Bells update

Hershey's 'Bells' gets a social update

Now, through a ‘Heartwarming the World’ campaign, the Hershey’s brand is on a mission, melting boundaries and dissolving distances, leveraging the iconic ‘Bells’ TV commercial into an active experience via broadcast, digital and social. Instead of just watching the commercial, for the first time ever, people get the chance to play the bells themselves, share the videos, and bring some cheer to everyone in their social circles.

On Instagram Stories, people can play and hear new bell sounds associated with Kisses Chocolates – hand bells, church bells, door bells, cow bells, DJ horn, and southern bells are all choices for play. After they put together their favorite sounds, they can share the video with their friends and family and spread the holiday merriment.

"This is one of the most loved commercials Hershey's has ever created and we just want more people to share in all that holiday love,” said Michael Straznickas, executive creative director, Dentsu Aegis Network’s Sidebar.

The ‘Bells’ spot runs on TV and online (sites like Hulu) through Christmas. The ‘Bells’ social experience is hosted on playthekisses.com, supported with an Instagram Story and in-feed Facebook and Instagram posts to drive audiences to the site.

Hershey's: advert-body-3

By Hershey's

Overall Rating 5/5

Vote now
Dentsu Aegis Christmas Advertising

More from Dentsu Aegis

View all

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +