Here's the thing. Cocktail links are usually a big hit during the holiday season when people are entertaining more often, but we noticed enthusiasm was starting to decline. Turns out, people were tired of the same old crockpot-links-and-grape-jelly recipe. So, we asked ourselves: How can Hillshire Farm drum up excitement for their Lit'l Smokies cocktail links?
The answer came in the form of our Lit'l Smokesperson—a walking, talking Lit'l Smokie with a perfectly-groomed mustache. With a little wit, he became the expert on sharing new and delicious recipes people could enjoy anytime, from New Year's parties to hanging out with friends watching reruns of "Parks and Recreation".
Our consumer believes in the value of spending time and eating with friends and family. They prefer to cook from scratch, but shortcuts are welcome along the way. Our 2017 Hillshire Farm campaign sought to give this consumer reasons to be excited about making and enjoying food together, while highlighting the often-overlooked possibilities of Lit'l Smokies.
To do this, we created a digital-only campaign that leaned into the fun and flavor of Lit'l Smokies. That's where our Lit'l Smokesperson came in. Using stop-motion animation, we brought our Lit'l expert to life to create a series of six-second videos, each sharing a unique recipe with Lit'l Smokies. Snapchat ads and Facebook posts were also used to target consumers and events outside of typical holiday moments.
Through his personality and the recipes he shared, our Lit'l Smokesperson immediately grabbed consumers' attention. This allowed us to break through the deluge of holiday noise to position Hillshire Farm Lit'l Smokies as THE dish to make and enjoy during the holiday season and beyond.
Across digital platforms, our Lit'l Smokesperson captured the attention of our audience between the ages of 25-54. Using Facebook videos, Snapchat ads and Snapchat filters, we were able to reached a total of 280 million impressions.
For Snapchat, our Lit'l Smokesperson was a strong performer with a CPM of $2.54. With our Snapchat Filters and Ads reaching over 70 Million Snapchatters ages 25 and up, over 23% of snaps using the filter were saved into their Memories. On Facebook, 38% of the audience completed watching the video ads, while the other 62% were able to see the Hillshire Farm logo within first 1 second of the video. Leyla Touma Dailey
