2021 Winner
BronzeBest in Consumer Goods
The Hershey Company
"Oh Henry! 4:25 Buds: Bringing Buds Together"
UM & Anomaly
"Oh Henry! 4:25 Buds: Bringing Buds Together"
UM & Anomaly
Friends and Pot: a popular combination on the millennial cannabis scene in Canada. From Harold & Kumar to Pineapple Express, it's no coincidence that stoner movie classics revolve around groups of friends. Seventy-five percent of millennials smoke up with friends. For these social pot users, communal cannabis use is a social bonding ritual that brings them closer together.
And just like using cannabis itself, the “munchies” that accompany pot usage is another activity best enjoyed with your buds. Feeding this thriving culture, Oh Henry! 4:25 Buds was launched in 2020 as the perfect cure for recreational hunger that strikes five minutes after “4:20” (stoner slang for getting high). The new launch was designed as a sharing pack meant for communal consumption after using cannabis. But what happens when social gatherings suddenly become a social taboo?
The 2020 pandemic delivered an unprecedented shock to millennials’ lives, turning physical proximity into a potential risk to your personal well being. Sadly, this meant that stoner buds had to stay apart. For a product created for social consumption, Oh Henry! 4:25 Buds faced a tough challenge to drive relevance and sales with social stoners, while addressing the legal mandate of social distancing.
The brand’s goal was to use data and precision targeting to drive engagement and spark action among their niche audience, and bring Canadian buds closer together. A core plank of their innovative strategy was to tap the power of media as a social facilitator, in a delightful and disruptive new way, to transform Oh Henry! into the only bud that would help unite you and your buds, virtually!
COVID-19 forced the cannabis bonding experience online, with more users watching video content and playing games with their buds than ever. During the pandemic, 67% of Canadian adults played video games with more than 60% of millennials streaming video content significantly more often. They knew that to reach their audience they had to insert Oh Henry! 4:25 Buds into these contextually relevant environments to drive relevance and consideration. But more importantly, to impact on the bottom line and drive sales, they created a rich, full funnel experience along the stoner snacking journey,
from discovery to purchase.
Since they were targeting a niche set of millennial stoners, precision targeting was extremely important. So they partnered with Amazon to leverage their 1st party data to reach qualified cannabis consumers and to promote Oh Henry! 4:25 Buds across their ecosystem of relevant touchpoints.
Though video streaming was not new to their consumers, their challenge was to excite them in a way they had never experienced before! Through the partnership with Amazon, Oh Henry! became the first brand in Canada to activate on Fire TV, Canada’s hottest video streaming service. Since watching movies is often part of a cannabis consumer’s experience, they curated a list of chill movies and shows – like Baked in Brooklyn and High Town – that Fire TV viewers could watch while snacking
on Oh Henry! 4:25 Buds.
Through this innovation, they were able to insert the brand within the content feed that was most relevant to the mindset of the 4:25 occasion and hyper-contextualize their advertising messaging. They leveraged 4:25 to further heighten Oh Henry! 4:25 Buds’ relevance. On April 25, aka 4/25, the brand had a 1st impression platform takeover on Twitch to reach gaming enthusiast pot users.Branded video content was further amplified in the online media open marketplace through Amazon’s precision DSP targeting. Finally, to complete the purchase loop, they directed stoner audiences to Oh Henry!’s page on Amazon.ca to drive sales and close that hunger gap.
The campaign crushed business goals and engagement KPIs. Oh Henry! over-delivered on sales forecasts by an astounding 50%, far outpacing category growth by a stunning 19%, and boosted market share by 6%, representing millions in incremental revenue. The Fire TV partnership drove huge engagement numbers, smashing benchmarks with 19s average dwell time and 82% video completion rate. The Twitch takeover doubled engagement norms with 87% video completion rate. The click-through-rate (CTR) was 4.6x above benchmarks on Amazon, targeting high value audiences, while the Twitch platform takeover drove best in class performance, generating CTRs 2.3x above benchmarks, with an effective average cost per visit 60% less than norms.
Turning adversity into opportunity is no easy task, especially during a global pandemic. But Oh Henry! 4:25 Buds proved that when you are chilling with your favourite Buds by your side, anything is possible.
And just like using cannabis itself, the “munchies” that accompany pot usage is another activity best enjoyed with your buds. Feeding this thriving culture, Oh Henry! 4:25 Buds was launched in 2020 as the perfect cure for recreational hunger that strikes five minutes after “4:20” (stoner slang for getting high). The new launch was designed as a sharing pack meant for communal consumption after using cannabis. But what happens when social gatherings suddenly become a social taboo?
The 2020 pandemic delivered an unprecedented shock to millennials’ lives, turning physical proximity into a potential risk to your personal well being. Sadly, this meant that stoner buds had to stay apart. For a product created for social consumption, Oh Henry! 4:25 Buds faced a tough challenge to drive relevance and sales with social stoners, while addressing the legal mandate of social distancing.
The brand’s goal was to use data and precision targeting to drive engagement and spark action among their niche audience, and bring Canadian buds closer together. A core plank of their innovative strategy was to tap the power of media as a social facilitator, in a delightful and disruptive new way, to transform Oh Henry! into the only bud that would help unite you and your buds, virtually!
COVID-19 forced the cannabis bonding experience online, with more users watching video content and playing games with their buds than ever. During the pandemic, 67% of Canadian adults played video games with more than 60% of millennials streaming video content significantly more often. They knew that to reach their audience they had to insert Oh Henry! 4:25 Buds into these contextually relevant environments to drive relevance and consideration. But more importantly, to impact on the bottom line and drive sales, they created a rich, full funnel experience along the stoner snacking journey,
from discovery to purchase.
Since they were targeting a niche set of millennial stoners, precision targeting was extremely important. So they partnered with Amazon to leverage their 1st party data to reach qualified cannabis consumers and to promote Oh Henry! 4:25 Buds across their ecosystem of relevant touchpoints.
Though video streaming was not new to their consumers, their challenge was to excite them in a way they had never experienced before! Through the partnership with Amazon, Oh Henry! became the first brand in Canada to activate on Fire TV, Canada’s hottest video streaming service. Since watching movies is often part of a cannabis consumer’s experience, they curated a list of chill movies and shows – like Baked in Brooklyn and High Town – that Fire TV viewers could watch while snacking
on Oh Henry! 4:25 Buds.
Through this innovation, they were able to insert the brand within the content feed that was most relevant to the mindset of the 4:25 occasion and hyper-contextualize their advertising messaging. They leveraged 4:25 to further heighten Oh Henry! 4:25 Buds’ relevance. On April 25, aka 4/25, the brand had a 1st impression platform takeover on Twitch to reach gaming enthusiast pot users.Branded video content was further amplified in the online media open marketplace through Amazon’s precision DSP targeting. Finally, to complete the purchase loop, they directed stoner audiences to Oh Henry!’s page on Amazon.ca to drive sales and close that hunger gap.
The campaign crushed business goals and engagement KPIs. Oh Henry! over-delivered on sales forecasts by an astounding 50%, far outpacing category growth by a stunning 19%, and boosted market share by 6%, representing millions in incremental revenue. The Fire TV partnership drove huge engagement numbers, smashing benchmarks with 19s average dwell time and 82% video completion rate. The Twitch takeover doubled engagement norms with 87% video completion rate. The click-through-rate (CTR) was 4.6x above benchmarks on Amazon, targeting high value audiences, while the Twitch platform takeover drove best in class performance, generating CTRs 2.3x above benchmarks, with an effective average cost per visit 60% less than norms.
Turning adversity into opportunity is no easy task, especially during a global pandemic. But Oh Henry! 4:25 Buds proved that when you are chilling with your favourite Buds by your side, anything is possible.
Credits
HERSHEYSenior Marketing Director – Jackson Hitchon
Senior Marketing Manager, Oh Henry!, Snackfection & Reese’s – Mathieu Gamache
Marketing Manager, Oh Henry! & Snackfection – Alejandro Mosquera
Assistant Marketing Manager, Oh Henry! & Snackfection – Ean Staalduinen
UM
VP, Client Business Partner – Kate Mateer
Senior Director, Connections Planning – Joanna Janisse
Director, Connections Planning – Ratna Shankar
Senior Connections Planner – Brooke Goldenberg
MATTERKIND
Associate Director, Addressable Strategy – Craig Kelly
Associate, Addressable Activation – Vlad Genov
ANOMALY
Executive Creative Director / Partner, Pete Breton
Associate Creative Director, Marko Pandza
Associate Creative Director, Jason Kerr
Art Director, Claire Barnette
Writer, Greg Seles
President, Managing Partner, Candace Borland
Head of Client Services, Bryden McDonald
Business Director, Erin Wilbur
Account Executive, Dana Hill
Account Supervisor, Jacqueline Lam
Strategy Director, Joshua Crost
Agency Producer, Martina Esguerra
Director of Social Media, Jennifer Stack
Director of Photography / Editor, Christian Flook
Post Production Producer, Jo-Ann Cook
Music Producer, Rocco Gagliese
Music Executive Producer, Nicola Treadgold
Sound Engineer, Nathan Handy
Sound Engineer, Dan Horton
AMAZON
Team Lead, CPG, Dean Hayward
Senior Account Manager, Asher Packard
Campaign Manager, Haley Bates