Hershey’s
Challenge
Consumers did not understand that The Hershey Company offered much more than a chocolate bar, and Wall Street did not recognize the company as North America’s largest confectioner at the time. Our challenge was to raise awareness of the brand’s scale and business impact.
Strategy
In the 1900s, Milton Hershey created a town in Pennsylvania dedicated to chocolate making. Street lamps shaped as Hershey Kisses lined its streets while “Hershey’s” emblazed factory stacks dotted cityscape. But few people knew this. Ironically, America’s most famous chocolate bar maker did not own the most famous chocolate factory. The fictional Willy Wonka held that honor. We argued that the company should turn its history into a cathedral to candy.
Solution
Our team developed the idea that Milton Hershey had opened a chocolate factory on Broadway in 1915 and eventually transformed it into a retail store and adding a menagerie of spectacular billboards as the company grew through the decades.
Its signs use technology from the year each brand began. Whimsical machinery clanks and spins. Stacks modeled on the original Hershey factory puff live steam. Inside, visitors experience the brand with all five senses: Candy-themed music, the smell of chocolate, and every brand available to taste.
Results
BusinessWeek called it one of the ‘Retail Wonders of the World.’ More than 2.3 million people visit every year and it continues to be a popular tourist destination.
Team
- Weston Bingham
- Roman Luba
- Edward Chiquitito
- Grant Shaffer
- JGA
- Ogilvy & Mather
- Clear Channel
- Brian Collins