Bringing a Campaign to Life: Christie Cookie Co.

Christie Cookie Co., known for America’s most craveable cookies, was craving a boost in awareness, recognition, and sales. We helped them connect with customers by cooking up an integrated campaign that felt relevant and timely, yet included evergreen elements that could stay fresh.

Discovery

We knew Christie Cookie Co. as the sweet, neighborhood go-to located a block away from our office. And we knew they were the geniuses behind the famous DoubleTree hotel cookies. But we also knew that there was so much more to learn about the brand. So, we started off our partnership by hosting a discovery session to get to the heart of what makes Christie Cookie Co. so special.

Leading up to the session, we audited their current materials and strategy. Email, analytics, social, website, media—you name it, we studied it. In the session we covered things like:

• Business objectives
• What they’ve done in the past, what’s worked, and what they’ve always wanted to try
• Their current marketing funnel including owned assets and paid media
• The competitive landscape
• Their target audience and creating a customer journey map
• Possible campaign directions

After the half-day discovery session, analysis of the material we collected, and supplementary research, we knew we could help them achieve their goal of becoming America’s favorite gourmet cookie with an integrated campaign.

Creative Brief

We needed to create messaging for Mother’s Day and evergreen holidays like birthdays and anniversaries, while staying true to the brand’s time-honored, Southern roots. But above all, the brand needed to be understanding of the current climate and the opportunity we had to spread some happiness.

Then we distilled all the information into a creative brief that could guide creative concepting. Our strategy? Communicating with customers in a distinct voice that shows how much we truly care. We won’t just be selling cookies—we’ll be building a lasting bond with customers, and ultimately, a thriving community of Christie Cookie loyalists.

We want our audience to walk away feeling like their Christie Cookie gift made the world (and someone they love) a little happier.

Concepting

If our campaign process were a recipe, we would have just gathered all of our ingredients. The next step? Taking all that we’ve gathered and creating different campaign concepts that each bring the creative brief to live in their own unique way. Then, we let the client decide which concept tugged at their heartstrings the most.

Here’s a look at 4 of the concepts we presented to Christie Cookie Co.:

1. From our people to your people.

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People are everything. And we’re all in this together. When you give the gift of Christie Cookie, you’re not only delivering a dose of sweetness to make someone’s day, you’re supporting a small business that loves what we do. This concept is all about giving a voice and a face to the people behind the delicious recipes, the hand measured ingredients and the lovingly packaged products.

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2. Moments aren’t canceled.

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Most of the world is on pause right now, but we’re all still having moments worth celebrating. They may look a little different, but whether it’s a birthday, graduation day, Mother’s Day, or just because, they’re all worth celebrating. Sending someone some love (or some sugar as we say in the south) is the perfect way to celebrate moments big or small, even if you can’t be there in person.

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3. These times call for kindness.

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As we head into spring, there’s a lot of uncertainty. But one thing is for certain: now is a time for kindness. It’s a time to be kind to yourself, like treating yourself to delicious goodies that are made from quality, hand-measured ingredients. And it’s a time to be kind to others, like sending a sweet treat to someone for any occasion—even just because.

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4. That’s the Southern way.

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Some people give gift cards. Some send flowers. As for us Southern folks? We know the way to truly speak to the heart is through the stomach. Whether it’s a little pick me up for yourself, or a special treat for someone you love, our Southern values teach us that—now more than ever—the gift of slowing down and appreciating the little things that make life worth living is the gift to give.

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‍Execution

After reviewing the creative concepts, the team chose These times call for kindness. It captured the handmade, authentic character of the brand while leaning into a caring and kind tone of voice to spread positivity.

With a combination of paid media tactics, organic social posts, and a revamped email strategy, this fully-baked campaign helped the Christie Cookie Co. team reach their yearly goals by increasing web sales by 11% month-over-month, with an 83% increase compared to the previous year. Monthly web visitors increased by 196.22% compared to the previous year. Not only did they grow brand awareness and sales, they shared a larger message around kindness and love when customers needed it most. Pretty sweet.

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