The holidays are coming, giving marketers an opportunity to revisit brand assets that have become familiar parts of the season in the same way that consumers dust off the same decorations they’ve been putting up for years. For The Hershey Company, that meant assessing the most iconic creative asset of its namesake brand — the “Holiday Bells” commercial that debuted in 1989 — and looking for a way to move beyond traditional ad buys.
“We saw an opportunity to bring [back] what I would argue is really the commercial that signals it's the holiday season, maybe outside of Coca-Cola,” said Vinny Rinaldi, vice president of consumer connections at Hershey. “But the one difference is we have not AI generated our assets just yet.”
Instead of embracing that controversial tactic, as Coca-Cola has done for its ads featuring Santa Claus, Hershey is pairing the red, green and silver Hershey Kisses that perform in its long-running “Holiday Bells” spot with an iconic part of the season: the lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center in New York City.
Along with sponsoring the “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” special that aired Dec. 3, Hershey created a multichannel campaign that includes an interactive experience, digital platforms, social media and beyond. The effort allows Hershey to modernize a beloved holiday commercial without undermining it.
“The simplicity of the spot — no dialogue, no celebrities, just animated Hershey's Kisses — is key to its enduring charm,” said Stacy Taffet, chief growth officer at Hershey, in a statement. “It has become one of the most iconic holiday advertisements in American marketing history.”
Born of a spontaneous idea during a campaign shoot, “Holiday Bells” was created by Hershey’s former brand manager John Dunn in 1989. The 15-second ad, directed by Carl Willat, uses stop-motion animation to turn Hershey’s Kisses into handbells that play “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” The ad, which marked its 2025 return to airwaves during the Dec. 3 special, is Hershey’s longest-running commercial.
“We've always talked about how to modernize the bells,” Rinaldi explained. “Why would we touch it? Why do you have to modernize it when it's been such a long standing opportunity that's been on air? When you bring a 360-degree view of this, not everybody's watching just the TV commercial.”
Ringing in the holidays
Central to Hershey’s holiday play is an interactive experience that allows consumers to recreate the “Holiday Bells” ad via an LED-powered mat. Somewhere between the oversized keyboard from the movie “Big” and the gameplay of arcade-favorite Dance Dance Revolution, the experience runs through Dec. 7 during one of busiest weekends at the plaza in Rockefeller Center.
“People will have an opportunity to engage, to capture their own content, to share and post,” Rinaldi said. “You've got this incredible asset that everybody knows is Hershey Kisses and Christmas, so what better way again than to bring that to life across all of our digital platforms, social media and music?”
Along with an opportunity for consumers to generate content, Hershey’s will enlist local influencers to share the experience with their audiences. The campaign also includes branded effects on TikTok and Snapchat, a SiriusXM home screen integration, a rewards-based integration in Candy Crush and a music video featuring country music star Lainey Wilson.
Hershey’s holiday play is indicative of how the marketer is embracing content in its efforts. While the adage “content is king” remains true, it is changing as consumer preferences evolve across video, audio and social media.
“We've done a lot of testing in this area with different creative iterations over the last few years,” Rinaldi said. “Whether it's time spent with people, product or actual long-form content, what really rises to the top is where we're continually honing in our creative ecosystem.”
The interactive experience at the heart of the holiday effort is an example of how to shift focus from the hyper-targeting made possible by digital marketing back toward great ideas that reach consumers across demographics and channels — from kids of all ages stepping on the musical mat in Rockefeller Center to those interacting with content and activations digitally.
“How do we get people to spend more time with our brands when our brands are probably the most comfort-seeking, authentic products that are in almost everybody's home?,” Rinaldi said. “Across our portfolio, we have a really robust opportunity over the next 12 months to bring a lot of different content experiences to life.”
Connecting with consumers
Rinaldi will help drive that content strategy as vice president of consumer connections, a new role at Hershey he assumed in October. The executive now oversees integrated media and strategy, creative studio and channel experiences, marketing intelligence and enablement, and other marketing functions and is focused on turning consumer touchpoints into a connected ecosystem.
“The way you show up in a TV asset, all the way through to the packaging that will sit on your shelf, should be completely connected and should resonate with one another,” he said. “As a consumer, there should never feel like there's a disconnect on what you're experiencing with any of our brands.”
Connecting those consumer touchpoints requires Hershey to rethink how it communicates in media and measures impact as consumer behaviors — from shoppable commerce to dual screening — shift and evolve.
“That's a really big shift in not just our organization, but the industry in general, having [those functions] reside together to make sure that we are thinking about each touchpoint as we build our assets,” Rinaldi said. “The visual identity systems our brand shelf has, the content and packaging that goes onto a digital shelf, the assets you're spending time with on a TV screen, a mobile screen or a screen that's on the gas station — all of these things play a role in a consumer's life.”
