22M
Campaign Reach
72%
Post Engagement
1M
Page Views
How we helped Williams Sonoma own holiday gifting with calendar-based marketing
Discover the power of a 360-marketing campaign designed to make Williams Sonoma’s trademark Peppermint Bark the new pumpkin spice of the winter season.
The Brief
Williams Sonoma, the original producer of Peppermint Bark, wanted to make the beloved holiday gift and candy synonymous with the winter holiday season; in the same way that pumpkin spice is synonymous with autumn. Supported by in-store activations, TOP was tasked with creating the online campaign and establishing metrics to measure virality.
The Execution
To create such a social phenomenon, TOP launched National Peppermint Bark Day on December 1 via NationtalToday.com, a digital, holiday registry with over 6 million monthly subscribers. With a singular moment to ground the entire campaign, TOP pulled from across several agency services, including market research, media relations, influencer marketing, content creation, and inception marketing.
Using proprietary survey tools, we asked thousands of Americans about their holiday wish-lists, favorite and least favorite gifts, and confirmed that Williams Sonoma’s Peppermint Bark is the most beloved and desired. The results of the survey fed a national media relations strategy, with statistical breakdown by state to drive localized pitching and coverage.
With such a storied product, and dozens of SKUs, TOP and Williams Sonoma sent hundreds of gift baskets to key online opinion leaders and journalists to seed virality; which in turn created a wave of user generated content.
The Result
Despite several copycats of the famed Peppermint Bark, Williams Sonoma reigned at the top of holiday chatter and retail purchases. Share of voice reached nearly 30% against major competitors, with $100M+ in launch PR value. When the official day came, there were thousands of organic posts, and 12,000 social shares on Williams Sonoma’s official channels. It is the most-trafficked candy holiday on NationalToday.com with 1 million page visits and counting.
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