Jolly Rancher Gets ‘Fresh’ To Transform Hershey’s Marketing Model
Shifting from an advertiser to publisher mindset was just one of the changes Hershey had to make, according to Bill Blubaugh, senior brand director of sweets and refreshments.
As part of an ongoing series of conversations with 2017 Effie-winning marketers, I spoke with Bill Blubaugh, senior brand director of sweets and refreshments at The Hershey Company. In this podcast, we discussed the Jolly Rancher brand and its “A New Media Model to Transform a Brand that Sucks” campaign.
According to Blubaugh, effective marketing is more than hitting your marks and checking off boxes. Rather, it has to connect viscerally. “You have to market to consumers in a way that motivates them,” he said, “because just showing up is only part of the game.”
The campaign was personal for Blubaugh in a lot of ways. “Looking back 18 months after the campaign, it was really kind of a career-defining moment,” he said. “For me, now, I feel like these brave, new channels, this brave, new media model, is really not that difficult and not that different. It just requires a different set of skills.”
Highlights from this week’s “Marketing Today” podcast include:
- Jolly Rancher, the brand you suck. (1:06)
- A decision to go where the consumer is. (1:57)
- Personalized response: One-on-ones with the Fruit Gang. (4:25)
- Driving the brand in real time. (7:02)
- “Marketing effectiveness, to me, is just really about motivating people.” (8:14)
- Blubaugh keeps his eye on brands that have stood the test of time. (11:20)
- Turning brands over to consumers. (13:55)