After piloting delivery in select markets in 2019, Krispy Kreme decided to debut national delivery in 2020. This was not “new;” food delivery had exploded, including among restaurants, grocery and convenience chains. DoorDash and GrubHub had created a marketplace for delivery options and drastically increased consumer demand. Among people aware of Krispy Kreme, only 12% knew of its mobile ordering option (the mechanism we’d be asking them to use to place delivery orders and which also allows for an online order to be placed for pick-up at a shop). Reliant on earned media, Krispy Kreme tasked agency will birthing a clever way to announce the service:

• Reinforcing the brand’s purpose of touching and enhancing lives through joy.

• Increasing awareness of Krispy Kreme’s now national delivery service.

• “Flipping” online ordering ratio to make the majority be for delivery instead of pickup.

• Achieving delivery-as-percentage-of-sales forecast for March 2020.

Unable to rely on traditional paid media or a high-budget activation, we needed a breakthrough creative idea to generate interest and buzz among consumers and earned media. We anticipated Leap Day (Feb. 29) would be a cultural moment but needed a clever way to connect to the day authentically. We uncovered that media traditionally focused Leap Day coverage on three elements: babies, birthdays and brand promotions. We would have to stand out amidst the girth of tired “29”-related promotions and deals. So, we focused on creating a moment true to the brand’s warmth and generosity that would give media a fresh and irresistible way to tell the same story they're used to telling every four years. Our idea: introduce national delivery by celebrating the most “special deliveries”: Leap Day babies born Feb. 29, 2020 – delivering free dozens in real time to the parents and professionals who would “deliver” them.

Target audiences were expectant parents and nurses/doctors/technicians who would deliver babies Feb. 29 at hospitals within delivery radius (10 miles) of most Krispy Kreme shops, and “sweet treat” consumers who were increasingly turning to the convenience of mobile ordering for planned occasions and/or impulse purchases. The simple key message and call-to-action: to announce its “leap” to national delivery, Krispy Kreme would celebrate the most special deliveries of all – babies born on Feb. 29 – delivering free dozens to parents and maternity wards who post on social media when a baby is delivered, tagging @KrispyKreme and using the hashtag #KrispyKremeSpecialDelivery. With a baby-sized budget, we created irresistible static and video assets to announce the campaign, including a video designed to look like a birth announcement from Krispy Kreme. To preserve “working” marketing dollars, we even used a Krispy Kreme agency account team member’s newborn for the hero image!

The week of Feb. 17, we partnered (cost-free) with hospitals in Krispy Kreme target markets to seed the campaign, promote #KrispyKremeSpecialDelivery and plan for doughnut deliveries. We pitched the news to mainstream and trade media under embargo in order to lead the Leap Day news cycle. The week of Feb. 24: After USA Today and Ad Age broke the news with exclusives, we distributed and pitched a bevy of national mainstream culture, lifestyle, news, business and target market media, many of whom were planning Leap Day roundups. We also reached out to national newsfeeds and morning shows to thread the needle for a massive burst of coverage overnight Feb. 28 and on Leap Day. On Feb. 29: Our integrated earned-social-ops war room monitored and responded to hundreds of #KrispyKremeSpecialDelivery alerts and earned media opportunities while the brand’s delivery partner DoorDash implemented the large order fulfillment process with white glove service.

Oh baby, what a leap Krispy Kreme made! During previous regional delivery availability, the online ordering ratio percentage of pickup to delivery was 70-30. During the campaign week, that ratio shifted to 50-50, and on Feb. 29 the ratio flipped to 36-64 – almost 2 to 1 for delivery and proof of awareness AND immediate action taken by fans. The campaign also was “sticky”: for the month of March, delivery as a percentage of sales was more than 2X Krispy Kreme’s financial plan.

We placed more than 1,700 stories (450+ million earned media impressions/viewers) and generated 1.2 million organic social impressions. In addition to hundreds of dedicated stories, Krispy Kreme was the first brand cited in most Leap Day roundups, beating Olive Garden, Lay's, Popeyes and others – doing so WITHOUT a discount or product promotion.

On Leap Day, social feeds flooded with #KrispyKremeSpecialDelivery posts beginning in the early morning hours and continued throughout the day. Fans created Instagram accounts just to submit their posts and some said they even announced their new baby to Krispy Kreme before informing their families! Now THAT’s making an emotional connection and reinforcing Krispy Kreme’s brand purpose of touching and enhancing lives through joy! As the day went on, hospital staff and families who received doughnuts “delivered” on sharing the joy that is Krispy Kreme via photos and posts that lauded the brand. #KrispyKremeSpecialDelivery was the most successful campaign hashtag in brand history based on volume and engagement. (See Confidential Information for additional results.)