B2C businesses are shameless when it comes to high jacking holidays and events to flog their wares to consumers, and Easter is no exception. Clucking after your custom like an old hen around a bag of corn, brands pull out all the stops to get you splurging on their products at Easter time — whether it be a hot cross bun or gluttonous chocolate egg. But which brands do Easter best? To find out, here are 5 cracking Easter marketing campaigns.
Hotel Chocolat
Easter is to Hotel Chocolat what Christmas is to Toys R Us, so it’s only right they go to town on their campaign. Last year the beloved chocolate retailer sent the Donnie Darko-esque ‘Beau Bunny’ to 39 of its stores across the UK, encouraging passing chocolate fans to snap a selfie with this dapper rabbit. The stunt proved a success, with thousands sharing their Beau Bunny snaps across the brand’s social platforms.
Spar
Kings of convenience, Spar, came up with a devilishly fun Easter marketing ploy in 2015 — prompting their social following to design their own chick using a standalone web platform. Encouraging both adults and kids to join in the fun, this Easter campaign combined pastoral cuteness with a lovely bit of web design to win our hearts and capture the innocence of what Easter is all about. Plus they ran a competition, and everyone loves those.
The Co-operative Food
Not ones to be outdone by their corner shop adversaries, The Co-operative also created a standalone site especially for Easter, Easterlovedbyus.com. Upon visiting the site, users were asked to count the number of eggs they could spot, before posting their answers on the brand’s social channels. Thanks to the unbridled competitiveness of us Brits, the campaign went down a treat, as thousands let loose on the Co-op’s Twitter feed with a scattering of incorrectness.
Debenhams
High street darlings, Debenhams, took the traditional Easter egg hunt one step further, hosting real time egg trails in a number of its stores up and down the country over the Easter weekend. Promoting the stunt via the hashtag, #EggcellentHunt, Debenhams saw increased footfall in all participating stores, as kids and adults flocked in to rummage the rails for signs of the elusive Easter egg. Naturally the campaign posed a logistical nightmare, but it paid off, winning Debenhams plenty of national and regional PR coverage.
Thorntons
Like Hotel Chocolat, Thorntons need no excuse to get involved in the Easter celebrations. In 2015, the high street chocolatier got involved with the festivities via — you guessed it — an Easter egg hunt. But this was to be an egg hunt with a difference, thanks to an interactive map and clues shared on the brand’s Facebook and Twitter pages. To locate each egg and win a prize, Thorntons fans had to first crack a clue, some of which were fairly tricky — prompting plenty of debate across the brand’s social channels.
Whether you flog chocolate, food or neither, there’s always a way to align big occasions like Easter with your brand. If you’re planning a promotional marketing campaign, Leighmans can help thanks to our range of fully customisable gifts and products. To browse the complete range, visit the homepage or call us on 0800 169 0898.
