Hasta La Creative!

For much of its history, Hershey Co. downplayed advertising. Milton Hershey, who founded the company in 1894, was more interested in product development and quality. And his philosophy endured for decades: Hershey did not launch its first national media ad campaign until 1970, according to company archives and the Ad Age Encyclopedia of Advertising.

How times have changed. Since 2006, the marketer’s ad spending has grown from $108 million (2% of sales) to a projected $580 million this year (8% of sales), according to a recent report by Citi. And the results have been sweet, to say the least. The company reported net sales of $3.34 billion for the first six months of the year, up about 6% from the same period a year earlier, while forecasting full-year sales growth of 7%. Euromonitor International projects Hershey will finish 2013 with 34.4% share of the competitive chocolate-confectionery market in the U.S. That’s up from 34.2% last year, with Hershey widening its lead over No. 2 Mars, whose share is expected to decline to 29.1% from 29.2%.

“Everything is going right for Hershey,” stated the report by Citi, which in July made the company its top stock pick among large packaged-food companies.

Continue reading at AdAge.com