March 2021: U.S. restaurants struggled amid restrictions as the first available COVID-19 vaccines began to scale. Enthusiasm for getting vaccinated was increasing across partisan groups, but a persistent divide remained. And companies were hesitant to release a public stance on the matter altogether.

The landscape was tumultuous, but Krispy Kreme was compelled to activate its societal duty to help the country through the pandemic and authentically deliver on its corporate purpose and spirit of joyful generosity with its “Acts of Joy” brand strategy (born shortly after COVID-19 swept the globe in 2020).

Krispy Kreme asked us to concept and implement a brand action that would accomplish these objectives:

1) Secure a leadership position in ongoing pandemic discussion by creating a movement to get as many Americans vaccinated as soon as possible.

2) Generate unprecedented media coverage and conversation.

3) Reinforce the brand’s purpose of touching and enhancing lives through joy.

When cultural tension is high and reputational stakes even higher, it’s hard to ignore when a beloved national brand is the first (not just in its own industry, but across all industries) to break silence on one of the time’s most controversial topics.

Krispy Kreme would be the first private-sector company to support or incentivize people to get vaccinated via its most epic “Act of Joy,” offering everyone in the U.S. who receives a COVID-19 vaccine some “sweet support”: One free iconic Original Glazed Doughnut — any day, at any time, even EVERY DAY, at any location — starting March 2021 for the remainder of the year.

It was a bold idea, rooted in purpose: Motivate as many Americans as possible to get vaccinated so the country could put the pandemic behind it and get back to sharing joy in our most traditional manner — being together.

Being first required balancing patience, tenacity and resilience. We aimed to influence and inspire consumers, businesses and government entities to support the COVID-19 vaccine through vaccinations or vaccine incentives. But we knew that not all shared Krispy Kreme’s position.

Every outcome was considered in preparing the initiative. Courage and conviction would help Krispy Kreme withstand criticism from those who’d claim doughnuts caused obesity and, therefore, COVID-19 complications, or those who’d express disappointment for being “excluded” from the offer for not getting vaccinated.

Once vaccines became available, media-and-consumer tension mounted and the first vaccine-hesitation news settled. It was at this moment that we launched the campaign, driving consistency on social with a key image and a clear message: Show your vaccination card, get a free iconic Original Glazed Doughnut. We were confident that user-generated content would do the rest. And when it did, Krispy Kreme would hold fast.

On March 22, the program got underway with an execution that was simple but meticulously constructed to deliver the bigness of the moment and begin a movement.

We engaged a handful of big-game national media contacts under embargo to coordinate executive interviews for stories that would post concurrently to our news release and organic social posts going live. We also researched and pitched media not traditionally targeted by Krispy Kreme, including medical, health and science outlets and publications. We set up and executed a media command center (earned + social) to monitor, triage, react to, shift, and capitalize on hundreds of inquiries and engage online as the brand took social platforms and search engines by storm.

Krispy Kreme went from culturally relevant to a culture force almost overnight. In 24 hours, the brand trended No. 1 on Twitter and topped Google search while we generated 2,000+ stories and 3 billion earned impressions and viewers.

By Day 2, stories nearly doubled and Krispy Kreme was mentioned in 1,400+ broadcast segments, taking total impressions/viewers to 4.3 billion.

In one week, the news proliferated in all verticals: business, politics, medical and healthcare, fashion, sports, entertainment, pop culture, and general news. And Krispy Kreme’s desire to lead the pro-vaccine conversation was validated by a national survey conducted by The Harris Poll and AdWeek, with 60% of respondents feeling companies were obligated to encourage vaccinations, and just as many reporting they’d be more likely to buy from a brand that offers vaccine incentives.

After six weeks, the campaign generated 7,000+ placements (with message pull-through in the 90th percentile), 10 billion impressions and nearly 100 million viewers. We stopped counting.

Throughout April and May, dozens of brands, organizations and governments followed Krispy Kreme’s lead, confirming the company as the trailblazer it set out to be. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki even gave Krispy Kreme a shoutout during a briefing about another company’s “follow along” incentive campaign.

By September, Krispy Kreme had given away nearly 4 million doughnuts and its brand love tracker was up 7 points — a significant increase based on historical metrics, showing not just the campaign’s immediate impact but its sustainability.