Sweethearts Situationships was a massive PR success. The launch earned more than 3 billion earned media impressions (the equivalent of 28 Super Bowl spots) over +3,100 global earned media hits. In total, the campaign generated more than $67 million in earned media coverage.

From People Magazine, to Good Morning America, to the Late Show with Stephen Colbert – because of our Situationships campaign, for the first time in 120 years, everyone was talking about Sweethearts candies.

Sweethearts Situationships play off the dating trends of America's Gen Z, where blurry, undefined relationships -- called "situationships" -- are the most popular type of modern relationship. This type of dating is purposely ambiguous and noncommittal. By taking Sweethearts biggest product flaw - misprinted and blurry hearts - and repackaging it as limited edition "Situationship" hearts we were able to appeal to Gen-Z and tap into the latest cultural trends. As evidenced by over 3 billion media impressions for the idea.

Sweethearts, a 120 year old brand, had a massive perception problem. The heart shaped conversation candies are an iconic Valentine’s gift, but the brand’s image is rooted in nostalgia. And to younger consumers like Gen Z, that image is old-fashioned, outdated, and even irrelevant.

Our brief was to flip Gen Z attitudes towards the brand. To create an idea that transforms Sweethearts from a candy for school kids into a brand with a true place in the modern day cultural conversation.

We took the blurriest, most misprinted Sweethearts on our production line and turned them into an entirely new product: Sweethearts Situationships. Boxes filled only with blurry, hard to read messages, designed to be the perfect commentary on all the unclear feelings in Gen Z's modern day dating.

We sold Sweethearts Situationships online in two drops, both of which sold out in under 2 mins and garnered over 3 billion media impressions - the equivalent of 28 Super Bowl spots.

By taking Sweethearts biggest product flaw: misprinted and blurry candies on the factory line that usually get tossed out and repackaging them as "Sweethearts Situationships" we were able to flip Gen-Z's attitudes to the brand and dominate the cultural conversation around Valentine's Day. Situationships - the term for undefined or blurry relationships was the biggest relationship status for 2024 and by making a candy designed for it, our strategy dove into the modern relationship landscape in a way that felt breakthrough – and true to our Gen Z target audience.

Our strategy was to break Valentine’s Day 2024 news by being first out of the gate to announce a holiday-specific product. We decided that Tuesday, Jan. 3 was the day to do it. We distributed a national news release on PR Newswire and individually pitched hundreds of culture, trend and relationship reporters nationwide. And from there it took off. People Magazine was first to respond, followed by major national news outlets USA Today, New York Times, Axios, The Drew Barrymore Show, CBS News, Good Morning America, The Times of London, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Food Network, CNN, CNBC, Delish, Reader’s Digest, Fox News, Access Hollywood and much more.

We had two PR outputs for this campaign—a news release and a syndicated product launch video distribution. The resulting media coverage snowballed from extensive media relations as well as the timeliness and cultural relevance.

Media Output:

3.2 billion earned impressions

3,100 international earned media hits

$67 million in earned media coverage

Features in People Magazine, USA Today, New York Times, Axios, The Drew Barrymore Show, CBS News, Good Morning America, The Times of London, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Food Network, CNN, CNBC, Delish, Reader’s Digest, Fox News, Access Hollywood and much more.

Target Audience Outcomes:

224% increase in brand interest

600% increase in social following

Across TikTok and Meta, over UGC 7,000 videos generating over 5 million views on organic user generated content.

Business Outcomes:

2 instantly sold out online drops of Sweethearts Situationships, and multiple big box retailers in talks to stock the candy on store shelves in 2025.

Overall production budget: $62,593.06

Pre-Production: $23,380.67

Production: $20,707.39

Post-Production: $18,505.00

In total, this campaign generated $67 million in earned media, generating an ROI of nearly 105,000%.