Seizing the Moment: How Hershey's Turned a Taylor Swift Cameo into a Marketing Masterpiece

When Lightning Strikes Twice

As the official candy partner of the New Heights podcast, Hershey's had their playbook ready. But when Taylor Swift made a surprise appearance on the show, everything changed. What started as a routine partnership activation suddenly became one of the year's biggest cultural moments, with the special episode generating over 407 million collective views.

Our response? We didn't just watch history unfold—we became part of it by creating a brand-new "Taylor's Version" ad celebrating her album announcement, featuring the candy brand that loves orange like no one else: REESE'S.

The 24-Hour Sprint That Changed Everything

From the moment we learned about Taylor's surprise appearance, our cross-functional team moved into overdrive. Contract negotiations, asset trafficking, campaign pivots, approvals, social content creation and community management—everything happened within a single day, executed by a passionate team who truly understood the cultural significance of the moment.

But this wasn't just about speed. While developing the main creative with our agency partners, we simultaneously launched a comprehensive multi-platform strategy:

• Social Media: Our "orange era" campaign generated over 500K+ TikTok views almost instantly
• PR: Same-day product packaging designs that captured the moment's sparkle
• Community Management: Real-time engagement across all partner channels
• Paid Media: Last-minute YouTube masthead placements and 48-hour streaming campaigns

The results spoke for themselves. Ad Age recognized our efforts in their weekly "Marketing Winners and Losers" column, highlighting how we successfully captured the "Swift halo effect" through both social media and product innovation. Marketing Dive also noted the swift-moving campaign.

The Magic Behind the Moment

This campaign's success required seamless collaboration across Marketing, Creative, Media, PR, Legal and our agency partners. But more than operational excellence, it demanded something harder to quantify: the ability to recognize a once-in-a-lifetime cultural moment and act on it immediately.

3 Takeaways for Marketing Leaders

1. Build Agile Infrastructure Before You Need It Success in real-time marketing isn't just about having great ideas—it's about having systems, relationships, and processes in place that can pivot instantly. Our existing partnership with New Heights gave us the foundation, but our pre-established workflows across legal, creative and media teams made the 24-hour execution possible. Invest in agile infrastructure during quiet moments so you're ready when lightning strikes.

2. Cultural Fluency Is Your Competitive Advantage Having team members who genuinely understand and participate in cultural moments isn't just nice to have—it's essential. Our success came from passionate team members who immediately grasped the significance of Taylor's appearance and could translate that understanding into authentic brand messaging. Hire for cultural curiosity and invest in teams that live and breathe the moments your audience cares about.

3. Speed Without Strategy Is Just Noise Moving fast is only valuable if you're moving in the right direction. While we executed in 24 hours, every decision was strategic—from choosing the right creative angle to selecting optimal media placements. The key is having clear brand guidelines and decision-making frameworks that enable rapid execution without sacrificing quality or brand integrity.

In an era where cultural moments move at internet speed, this campaign proves that brands willing to embrace agility don't just keep up with culture—they help shape it. By positioning ourselves at the center of the conversation rather than watching from the sidelines, we transformed an unexpected opportunity into lasting brand momentum.

Sometimes the best marketing campaigns aren't the ones you plan for months—they're the ones you create in a day when the moment is right.