• by Erik Oster , January 29, 2024

Caramel candy brand Werther’s Original launched its first global campaign in around five years, with a message channeling Dorothy from ‘The Wizard of Oz.’

“Home Sweet Home” debuted last week with a series of four anthem ads running across broadcast, connected TV, digital, and social channels. Created in partnership with agency Pahnke Chicago and production house Native Content, the ads focus on celebrating comfort and emotional connection, presenting home as more than a place, while connecting the August Storck brand to fond memories and showcasing the brand portfolio across its hard and soft caramel candy varieties. They represent the initial half of eight ads created thus far for the campaign.

The brand focused on positive childhood moments in its “A Little Piece Of Bliss” campaign launched in 2019. Still, the campaign does reflect a strategic shift for the brand informed by consumer insights. According to a representative, the campaign is a response to the issue of widespread loneliness. Around half of U.S. adults reported experiencing loneliness last year, according to the U.S. Surgeon General.

“Werther’s is an iconic brand that’s loved across generations, but we needed a fresh approach that featured the brand’s diverse product portfolio and how that resonated with today’s consumers,” Kelly Cook, president for Werther’s parent company Storck USA said in a statement.

“The idea behind ‘Home Sweet Home’ came to me when I was packing up my childhood home to be sold -- the stories those walls could tell. Similarly, when you talk to people about Werther’s, everyone has a story -- vivid memories of where they were, who they were with,” added Pahnke Chicago CCO Susan Betteridge. “It was those stories and those emotions we wanted to capture in the work.”

Following the U.S. launch, “Home Sweet Home” will roll out globally later this year, including in Canada and Europe, which represents home ground for Storck, the German confectionery producer behind Werther’s, which is headquartered in Berlin.

While “Home Sweet Home” represents the brand’s first global campaign in years, it is no stranger to spending big on advertising. According to data analysis from MediaRadar, Werther’s invested over $30 million on advertising for 2023, and was the number four spender among candy brands. The vast majority of that spending was on digital video, with Werther’s devoting about 82% of its budget to such channels according to MediaRadar, with 16% going to TV advertising. That ratio could look a lot different for 2024 with the rollout of “Home Sweet Home” including new broadcast ads.