Hershey's Bliss House Party

House Party, a leading word-of-mouth marketing company, conducted more than 10,000 in-home parties across the country to help The Hershey Company launch Hershey's Bliss™ chocolate, a new rich, creamy and bite-size chocolate indulgence. House Party, which engages a select group of consumer advocates to host house party events and provides an exclusive hands-on experience with a brand, reports that more than 129,000 people attended the parties, making the event the largest in House Party history.

Each House Party event consists of 1,000 or more individual parties that take place across the country, all on the same day, in the homes of consumers that meet a detailed profile, and who are passionate brand advocates. Parties are attended by the host's friends and family and are shared with millions more via the custom-branded Web site that serves as Party Central, creating a vibrant online community. House Party hosts share photos and videos of their party; use party planning guides to make their party successful; and blog with their guests and other House Partiers, which also helps to build buzz virally.

This entry accomplished business goals as Hershey's wanted to introduce its new Bliss™ chocolate brand and the different varieties to women who lead full lives ages 25-49. They wanted to support the brand positioning efforts as a blissful, everyday indulgence while building brand loyalty.

The promotion succeeded in engaging females in the target market to host parties for girlfriends and introduce them to the varieties of Hershey's Bliss chocolate. The party packs were enthusiastically received, achieving the goal of building brand loyalty. Overall, more than seven million people were reached as a direct result of the Hershey's Bliss Chocolate House Party.