From the Nominator

Milton Hershey School is one of the country’s best independent schools. It offers life-changing opportunities and experiences to children in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade from low-income families. Everything is provided at no cost to students through the generosity of Milton and Catherine Hershey. Since 1909, Milton Hershey has achieved its mission of breaking the cycle of poverty.

In 2020, we launched a 10-week integrated marketing campaign—Be Your Greatest Self—to showcase industry expertise, elevate brand awareness, and infuse positive messaging across the Mid-Atlantic region. The campaign was anchored by an anthem video that captures the mission of the school, and its promise of opportunity to all students. We complemented the video with a package of supporting campaign assets repurposing the video’s visual/narrative components.

We targeted the Harrisburg/Lebanon/Lancaster/York area, and extended the campaign’s footprint east to Philadelphia and south to Washington, D.C. Although the campaign’s carefully chosen media placements and digital targeting focused on regional thought leaders and decision makers, its message had broad appeal and resonated across all Milton Hershey audiences and the general public. It provided a beacon of hope during the challenging early months of a global pandemic. 

This successful campaign demonstrated strong outcomes. Total impressions across seven vendors and 24 channels equaled 15 million. Performance metrics were more in line with an action-driving campaign (clicks, click-through rate, percent viewed, hover time, universal interaction, and attention quality), with strong assets that propelled it past awareness campaign expectations. Most of the ads surpassed industry-standard performance metrics.

From the Judges

We loved this entry. We really got a sense of what Milton Hershey is about. An impressive and emotive array of digital assets were used. The impact is clear, with 15m impressions achieved by the campaign. Overall a highly innovative and creative project. Congratulations!