The CPG Guys are joined in this episode by Jessica DuQuesne, Global Brand Marketing & Strategy Lead at The Hershey Company and Allyson Gill, Managing Director at Flywheel, the commerce accelerator division of Omnicom.
Follow Jessica on Linkedin at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-duquesne-exec/
Follow the Hershey Company online at: https://www.thehersheycompany.com/
Follow Alyson on Linkedin at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allyson-holland-gill-55194a2/
Follow Flywheel online at: https://flywheeldigital.com
Jessica & Allyson answer these questions:
1. The "Scream for REESE'S" campaign was described as Hershey's first partnership of this kind. What was the internal case you had to make to greenlight something so unprecedented — pairing a candy brand with an R-rated horror franchise — and how did you overcome skeptics?
2. The explicit goal was to establish REESE'S as the quintessential Halloween treat in five key international markets where U.S.-style Halloween culture is still emerging. How do you localize a Halloween campaign for markets where the holiday doesn't have the same roots, and what did success look like differently country to country?
3. The Effie-winning "Be So Eggstra" Easter campaign at Walmart was all about converting shopper interest into action. How does the consumer psychology of Halloween differ from Easter when you're building a commerce strategy — and did those Easter learnings inform how you approached the Scream activation at retail?
4. From Flywheel's vantage point sitting across dozens of CPG clients, how rare is it to see a brand successfully stitch together an entertainment IP partnership, international expansion, and seasonal retail activation all in one campaign? What made Hershey's execution stand out?
5. The campaign delivered "compelling seasonal concepts and highlighted opportunities to prioritize REESE'S product placement" at retail. How do you actually influence product placement in international markets where Hershey's retail relationships are far less established than in the U.S.? What's the commerce infrastructure playbook for markets like Mexico or Puerto Rico?
6. Seasonal confectionery is one of the most contested shelves in retail — every brand is fighting for the same holiday display real estate. From a commerce strategy standpoint, how should CPG brands think about the interplay between in-store placement, digital shelf, and social to amplify a limited-time partnership activation like this one?
7. In the UK, the campaign gave consumers a chance to win exclusive tickets to a private screening of Scream 7 through in-store promotional materials. Sweepstakes and experiential prizes are classic shopper mechanics — but how do you measure their commerce impact beyond entries? What are the right KPIs for a promotion like this?
8. Scream is a franchise with a specific fan base — older, horror-savvy, nostalgic. REESE'S skews much broader. How did you make sure the partnership reached the casual Halloween consumer and not just the Ghostface superfan? Where was the creative tension in that balancing act?
9. We're seeing more CPG brands pursue entertainment IP licensing — from candy to beverages to snacks. Is this a durable strategic playbook, or a moment in time? And what separates a partnership that genuinely builds brand equity from one that's just a short-term sales bump with a logo slap?
10. Agentic commerce and AI-driven shopping are beginning to reshape how consumers discover and buy seasonal products. If an AI agent is doing a consumer's Halloween shopping — choosing between REESE'S and a competitor — what does a brand need to have in place to win that moment? Does a Scream partnership even register?
11. Seasonal is the highest-stakes, most compressed window in CPG. The entire campaign has to land in 6-8 weeks. How is the rise of AI-powered media planning and retail media networks changing how you resource, pace, and measure a seasonal program like this one?
12. You've described this campaign as "just the beginning" and a template for future collaborations that deepen brand relevance and seasonal impact. What's the evolution of this playbook — and as Scream 7 actually hits theaters in February 2026, how does Hershey sustain the cultural connection beyond the Halloween window?
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