Dive Brief:
- Candymaker Mars has teamed with video network Tastemade and Pinterest to create several do-it-yourself videos that promote its Dove Silky Smooth Promises dark chocolate and M&M's Minis for Easter, per an announcement shared with Marketing Dive.
- The DIY video for Dove Chocolates shows how to craft a garland by running a string through the holes in plastic Easter eggs, while the hack video demonstrates how to dye Easter eggs without using an egg dipper in a way that's easy for kids and is less messy. The activities end with "Me Moments" that urge women to take a break and treat themselves to a Dove candy. The hack videos for M&M’s Minis show how to make cookie bunnies topped with the candy and bunny ear napkins that have a plastic egg filled with Minis.
- Mars is inserting itself into the conversation around Easter, a popular topic on Pinterest with 229 million saved posts and 37 million searches related to the occasion. "Easter Basket Ideas," "Easter Brunch" and "Easter Decorating Ideas" were the top searches last year, while "Easter Centerpieces" and "Easter Wreaths" were among the most popular searches for Easter crafts, per the announcement.
Dive Insight:
Mars aims to engage Pinterest users with its series of Easter-related videos from Tastemade as consumers seek ideas on how to celebrate the occasion entering the pandemic's second year. Cooking and crafts have grown popular in the past year as people spend more time at home, and Mars can participate in social media conversations about those activities. As Pinterest notes, Easter generates significant interest among its user base, which last year grew 37% to 459 million monthly average users (MAUs).
The candymaker is getting an early start on its campaign for Easter, which rivals Valentine's Day and Halloween as the top occasion for candy sales. Last year, 77% of U.S. adults said they planned to celebrate Easter, in line with long-term trends, with 51% planning to cook a holiday meal, 34% saying they would visit family and friends virtually and 12% opening gifts, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation (NRF). In-person gatherings may be more popular this year, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week issued new health recommendations for fully vaccinated people.
Meanwhile, the campaign for Dove Chocolates and M&M's Minis is a way to reach consumers who are tuning into digital media. M&M's has expanded those efforts in a variety of ways, including the integration of its limited-time Messages packaging with audio streaming platform Spotify last month. Each pack of the chocolate candy shows a printed message and a special code to open a complementary playlist when scanned with a smartphone camera, bridging the divide between physical products and digital experiences.
Mars Wrigley is among the marketers sponsoring original content to encourage viewers to interact with their brand as online video consumption grows. Amid that growth, Tastemade has worked with a variety of brands to developing exclusive video series. Hyundai's luxury vehicle brand Genesis and Amazon in December collaborated with Tastemade on a five-part series called "Origins" that integrated their branding with cooking instruction from a group of chefs. Before that, Tastemade partnered with Walmart on special episodes of "Struggle Meals," a series that shows budget-minded cooks how to prepare meals with kitchen staples.
