Hershey’s is marking the back-to-school season with a new 30-second campaign that uses family memories, nostalgia and a simple mother-daughter moment to connect the brand with everyday happiness.
Created by The Martin Agency, “Back To School” is part of Hershey’s wider “It’s Your Happy Place” campaign, which launched earlier this year and aims to associate the brand with comfort, positive emotions and small moments of joy.
The film opens with a young girl telling her mother that she does not want to go back to school. The mother comforts her by recalling how her own mother used to calm her when she was nervous.
She warms her daughter’s hands, fixes her hair and then gives her a Hershey’s Kiss, telling her to take it whenever she needs a kiss. When the girl jokingly asks if she gets only one kiss, the moment ends with the mother sending her off to the school bus.
The ad then connects the present-day interaction with the mother’s own childhood memory, using a soft-focus visual style and period-inspired styling to evoke nostalgia and highlight the connection between generations.
According to advertising effectiveness company System1, the campaign scored 5.6 stars on its Test Your Ad platform, placing it among the top 4% of US candy advertisements tested. The ad also received an “Exceptional” Spike Rating, indicating strong potential for short-term impact.
System1 said the campaign benefits from what it describes as “between-ness” — the use of looks, gestures, touch and dialogue to establish emotional connections between characters.
The nostalgic flashback further strengthens the emotional appeal, particularly for a product category closely associated with childhood memories.
Rather than relying on celebrities or elaborate visual effects, Hershey’s uses a quiet, everyday family interaction to build its brand message, positioning the Hershey’s Kiss as a small gesture associated with comfort and affection.
The campaign continues Hershey’s broader effort to link the brand with simple, positive moments in consumers’ everyday lives.
