Who made the Hershey kiss commercial?

Who made the Hershey kiss commercial?

Photo credit: HERSHEY'S KISSES/YouTube

From Delish

It's hard to think of iconic holiday commercials without mentioning Hershey's Kisses. Many of us have grown up with the ad, which shows 11 chocolates "ringing" to the tune of "We Wish You A Merry Christmas," and we can practically name the order in which each Kiss moves.

What most people don't know, though, is the story behind how that commercial came to life—and its impact to this day.

It's Hershey's Longest-Running Product Commercial. Ever.

The promo has aired every holiday season since its debut in 1989, meaning that anyone under 29 years old has never known a world without it.

It's Entirely Unaltered, Too.

That's right—this flawless piece of old-school holiday #content has remained exactly the same since its inception.

An Employee Went Rogue to Make This Commercial.

John Dunn, Hershey's brands manager at the time, headed to San Francisco to create a series of Kisses commercials, all focusing on the idea of "whimsy." He was working with advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather and Colossal Pictures, a production company, to create the ads, and when he realized they were working ahead of schedule, asked two members of the team to come up with a holiday commercial.

Dunn wasn't authorized to make a holiday commercial, but he did so anyway, according to Hershey's archives; He was that confident he could sell his boss on the idea.

Photo credit: HERSHEY'S KISSES/YouTube

The Last Second Is Crucial.

At the very end of the commercial, the Kiss on the far right starts ringing frantically, and when the conductor (who happens to be the trunk of the Hershey's Kisses Christmas tree) finally motions for the Kiss to stop, the frenzied chocolate "wipes its brow" using its ribbon as if it were an arm. This sign of relief helps ring home the innocence and whimsy of the Hershey's Kisses brand, Hershey's reports, making it a critical scene in the ad.

It's A Case Study in Timelessness.

Since the commercial runs for such a short time frame—just a few months out of the year—and it uses a classic Christmas carol, people haven't gotten as fatigued of the ad over the years as they have many others. Plus, since the product itself hasn't changed, the Kisses "don't wear out like normal commercials," former marketing director for chocolate confectionary products at Hershey Leah Longan told the New York Times in 1994.

With each passing year, the ad triggers feelings of nostalgia—you can remember when you first saw it, and associate memories of holidays past, making it a tradition in itself.

What may be most impressive, though, is how in just 16 seconds' time, Hershey's somehow gets you into the holiday spirit (and makes you think about grabbing a bag of chocolate Kisses) without saying a single word out loud. The song plays throughout the commercial, with just the line "Happy Holidays from Hershey's Kisses" appearing beneath the chocolates at the very end.

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Who made the Hershey kiss commercial?
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In 1989 John Dunn was Hershey Chocolate brands manager for Kisses. Hershey was working on a new marketing campaign for Kisses, sometimes referred to as the Kisses “whimsy” campaign. Working with Ogilvy Mather, a series of animated Kisses commercials were planned utilizing tabletop stop-motion animation and CG product photography.

Ogilvy Mather was the agency of record for the Hershey’s Kisses brand and David Apicella, was the Creative Director who discovered and contracted the production company, Colossal Pictures in San Francisco to produce the commercials. Carl Willat served as Director for the commercials, and he and Gordon Clark creatively performed the animation that brought this campaign to life.

John Dunn traveled to San Francisco to oversee the development of the commercials. John remembered that there was still time left when the planned Kisses commercials were completed and he asked Carl Willat and Gordon Clark to develop a holiday commercial for Kisses. Even though he didn’t have authorization to create this commercial, John felt confident that he could sell it to his boss.

The creative idea of Kisses performing as hand bells in a bell-choir fashion was developed to play “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”. To reinforce the whimsy and innocence of the brand identity, John suggested the idea of having one of the Kisses franticly ringing at the end of the commercial where the Kiss expresses great relief by wiping its brow with the plume when the song concluded.

The commercial quickly became an iconic success. It has aired each holiday season since 1989, “ringing” in the holiday season of good cheer. It has become the longest running Hershey’s product commercial.

A brand of chocolate Hershey Kiss that has been producing chocolates since 1907 is a product of the Hershey Company. They are known for their creative ads that they come with in accordance to the time of the year they are releasing the ads. They generally have themes for their advertisements.

In this vein it can be observed that  Christmas Bells is an ad that came during Christmas. The Christmas Bells is one of the best ads of Hersheys and an ad that is still telecasted. But how old is the Christmas Hershey Kiss commercial and when did the Hershey Kiss commercial come out. Find out here

The Hershey Kiss Christmas commercial is 32 years old. But despite being 32 years old the Hershey Kiss Christmas commercial still holds a special place in the hearts of those who watch the same. The Hershey Kiss Christmas commercial was named the same because the Hershey Kiss Christmas commercial made use of the Christmas song - We Wish you a Merry Christmas.

Now that we know how old is the Christmas Hershey Kiss commercial let us find out when did the Hershey Kiss commercial come out as this will help better in understanding how old is the Hershey Kiss Bell Commercial.

When Did The Hershey Kiss Commercial Come Out?

The Hershey Kiss Christmas commercial was released in 1989. Initially developed as a stop-motion animation, the Hershey Kiss Christmas commercial was later redone with CGI animation to enhance the same. Even today the Hershey Kiss christmas commercial is an ad that played on Television during christmas time. Despite being released in 1989 many still enjoy this ad for the genuinity that this ad presents for its viewers. 

Hershey Kiss Christmas Commercial

How Long Is The Hershey Kiss Bell Commercial?

The Hershey Kiss Bell Commercial lasts around 15 to 20 secs and the whole ad has the Hershey Kiss chocolate in Christmas Colors  - red and green - jumping sound to the music We Wish you a Merry Christmas. The Hershey Kiss Christmas commercial is also one of the longest running ads of Hershey’s in the sense that this is the only ad that was made more than 30 years ago that is still being telecast. We know know all about Hershey Kiss christmas commercial from how old is the christmas Hershey Kiss commercial to when did the Hershey Kiss commercial come out.

Hershey Kiss Christmas Commercial Overview

Specifications Details
Name Of The Ad Hershey Kiss Christmas Bells 
Release Year 1989
How Old Is The Christmas Hershey Kiss Commercial 32 Years Old
Directed by   Carl Willat
How Long Is The Hershey Kiss Bell Commercial 15 to 20 Secs

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Every holiday season for the past 31 years, the Hershey Co. has aired its iconic ad that reimagines Hershey's Kisses as bells playing the tune "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." This year, the beloved chocolate-maker released a new spin on the commercial, and it includes human actors in addition to the stop-motion candies putting on their annual performance.

In the 2020 version, titled "Bells to Blossoms," a child's hand pops into the frame and grabs a Hershey's Kiss after the candies play a few bars of the song. Then, a father-daughter duo, smiling ear to ear, uses the Kisses to top some peanut butter blossom cookies as the carol continues to play on brass instruments instead of bells.

"Heartwarming the holidays," the screen reads.

Commenters were quick to call out the company for revising the commercial in a year that's already been packed with difficult changes. Multiple people even suggested Hershey create a separate ad with the dad and little girl, in addition to airing its seasonal marketing mainstay.

"I don't mind an ADDITIONAL holiday commercial for Hershey's, but warping the classic bells commercial SUCKS!" one person commented on the YouTube video of the new ad.

"The perfect representation of 2020: completely ruined!" added another.

"Look forward to original every year. Why change it? Don’t ruin it just make a separate commercial," wrote a third.

Criticism of the new ad took off on Twitter, too.

"Hershey’s redoing their christmas commercial is personally the last straw of 2020 for me," one person tweeted. "I simply cannot go on without hearing the little hershey kiss sigh after the performance of his lifetime."

Hershey's has responded on Twitter to several upset social media users, apologizing for their disappointment and offering to pass on the feedback.

In a statement to TODAY Food, the company explained that the original bells ad actually did air this year until Nov. 23, when the new one was released, but now they'll be running both the old and the new ads, as some on social media had suggested.

"We made the decision to make a slight update to the original that kept the opening holiday melodies and incorporated another holiday tradition, baking — melding together these two time-honored traditions," the statement read. "From playing the bells to baking peanut butter blossoms, it’s Hershey's Kisses that have stood the test of time."

"For viewers who love our original – don’t worry, we’ll be running both holiday ads this season," Hershey's continued. "Keep your eyes peeled for our classic and iconic Bells spot as well as the newest 'Bells to Blossoms.'"

The Hershey's Kisses Christmas bells ad, conceptualized in 1989, is the company's longest-running commercial, according to the Hershey Community Archives. In its three decades on air, it's remained largely unchanged, except for a 2016 update that added high-definition graphics and adjustments to the tagline. Also, in December 2018, Hershey's launched its Play the Kisses campaign, which included a virtual set of Kisses that fans could play and share the video on social media.

EDITOR'S NOTE (Dec. 1, 2020, 12:56 p.m. EST): This article has been updated with a new statement from Hershey's that says both the new and original holiday ads will run this year.