Campbell’s is always trying to find ways to reconnect with millennials; a target that has grown up and apart from the brand. The pandemic and lockdown presented a unique opportunity for Campbell’s to tap into a powerful insight that would resonate with millennials’ nostalgia for both snow days, and Campbell’s soup, answering our brief of “getting a little PR love” during the height of soup season.

In the US, “snow days” are free days to play because school has been cancelled due to bad weather.

Or so they were.

Enter Winter 2021. Due to the forced adoption of e-learning, schools are in session even when it snows. Which means those spontaneous days off to play outside before coming in to a warm bowl of soup are under threat.

Campbell’s Save the Snow Day is a crusade to protect these magical days. Through an online pledge, people were asked to show support by signing and sharing it with #SaveTheSnowDay. Capitalizing on a cultural moment, it sparked a conversation amongst millennials and turned heads, leading to schools changing their policy by reinstating and saving the snow day, preserving a little bit of joy in a year we didn’t have any to lose.

Campbell’s is always trying to find ways to reconnect with millennials; a target that’s grown up and apart from the brand. The pandemic presented a unique opportunity for Campbell’s to tap into an insight that would resonate with millennials’ nostalgia for snow days and Campbell’s soup.

In the face of the pandemic and as schools adapted to remote learning, Campbell’s pushed school districts to rethink their plans to replace snow days with virtual learning days for a chance to give students and teachers a much-needed break.

Through an online pledge, people were asked to show their support of snow days by signing and sharing it with #SaveTheSnowDay. The campaign came with a robust PR plan, from grassroots initiatives, to micro-influencers, to mass national media partnerships with Good Morning America meteorologist Ginger Zee, driving a public conversation and talking to the target ways that were relevant to them.

Through an online pledge, people were asked to show their support of snow days by signing and sharing it with #SaveTheSnowDay. Capitalizing on a cultural moment, Campbell’s “Save the Snow Day” initiative immediately sparked national conversation and turned heads for its emotional resonance, timely, topical storyline and unique call-to-action. Campbell’s amplified the chatter, which ultimately led to schools – including the Catholic Schools of New York – to change their policy and join the movement by agreeing to cancel class on snowy days, saving the snow day, and preserving a little bit of joy in a year we didn’t have any to lose.

Campbell’s Save the Snow Day came to life at the peak of soup season, from December 2nd, to February 28th via a custom website, content partnerships including Good Morning America and the Weather Channel, Instagram ads, influencers, custom activity kits, and in-store messaging.

Campbell’s saw several markers of success through campaign period, marked 12/2/20 through 2/28/21 including:

Schools reversing their policy, reinstating the snow day.

Over 3,000 signatures in the first 3 minutes.

Over 74,128 signatures.

Chicken Noodle Soup saw 12% growth in grocery from December 2020 – January 2021, equivalent to $1MM incremental sales

Throughout the campaign period, Campbell’s saw:

9% lift in brand affinity

7% lift in purchase intent

215MM Impressions

54 media placements