See’s Candies wants people to
“Break Out The Good Stuff” again this holiday — whether you’re skipping Turks and Caicos for a kitchen-island
chocolate binge or bribing Santa because, honestly, you’ve earned the coal.
The San Francisco brand is rolling out the platform out for the second year in a row, again working with Dallas agency Poke The Bear. Seven new spots anchor the push across paid social, TV and
streaming, mixing holiday ads with fresh evergreen work about classic See’s moments: the get-well box, the overachiever’s hostess gift, the family drowning out life’s noise with
peanut brittle crunching.
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Each one leans into “relatable, authentic truths that when you see it, you're like, 'Oh, yeah, that that's happened to me
before,’” says Leslie Horenstein, See’s senior vice president and CMO. And she’s blunt about the brand’s widening competitive set: “We’re up against wine or
flowers, traditional brands like Harry & David, very high-end artisanal candy companies — and all the candy brands in grocery stores, within easy reach of consumers.”
Horenstein says the goal isn’t reinvention so much as keeping a 104*-year-old icon emotionally current. “We're always looking to iterate and innovate for
the brand and always bring it forward for the customer,” she tells Marketing Daily.
That means talking to the die-hard loyalists who grew up
with the black-and-white shops — and the people who’ve never tasted a Scotchmallow. “We want to maintain our current customer base, but we are trying to reach that younger consumer
as well,” Horenstein says. “They are starting their own family traditions now, and we want to be a part of that.”
Geography is another
growth lever. While California and the West Coast remain the heartland, holiday pop-ups continue to test demand in states like Florida, Georgia and New York. “It's a great way to think about
where we can grow outside of California.”
What anchors all of it is See’s relentless insistence on quality and nostalgia. “When we say
quality without compromise, we're not kidding,” she says. “See’s has always been more than candy; it's been a meaningful part of celebrations, family traditions and everyday
moments… We want to preserve that nostalgia while surprising and delighting new people to try it.”
*An earlier version misstated the brand's age.