The Challenge

Hershey’s, one of the world’s leading chocolate brands, has been expanding its presence in marketplaces with an increasingly data-driven and efficiency-focused strategy. To enhance e-commerce results, the brand leveraged Retail Media solutions from Toppie, the Ad Network developed by Topsort.

Hershey’s goal was clear: structure media campaigns that maximize visibility and conversion for its most strategic products, based on real performance and consumer behavior data.

‍

The Solution

To achieve the desired results, Hershey’s launched its campaign using Toppie’s technology, with strategic support from Mindgruve, a Retail Media specialist agency and certified Topsort partner.

"For us at Mindgruve, supporting Hershey’s on this journey was extremely rewarding. By combining Toppie’s disruptive technology with Mindgruve’s global Retail Media expertise, we created data-driven, intelligent campaigns that maximized every dollar invested. The result: greater visibility for the portfolio’s strategic products, consistent growth in conversions, and a clear example of how innovation and strategy together redefine marketplace performance." – Ana Amorim, VP International Business Development, Mindgruve

The execution stood out for carefully selecting the products to advertise and efficiently allocating the budget, optimizing ROI even with varying investment levels per SKU.

Hershey’s decision to use Topsort’s Ad Network was driven by several competitive advantages, including:

International Ad Network

→ Access to inventory from key retailers worldwide and in Brazil simultaneously, without complications.

Smart AI-driven Targeting

→ Reach highly relevant audiences through automatic bidding and advanced algorithms.

High ROAS with Less Effort

→ Optimized campaigns that deliver real returns and scale easily.

Commitment to Privacy

→ Full data protection in compliance with regulations.

Real-time Insights

→ Continuous monitoring and quick adjustments based on updated data.

The Results

Hershey’s campaign delivered strong performance and highlighted the value of a well-curated portfolio. The top five promoted products accounted for over 83% of the investment and generated 84% of the total campaign revenue.

The Special Dark 60% Chocolate stood out: it received 28% of the budget, generated 46% of sales, nearly 30% of clicks, and delivered a 6.1 ROAS.

The Special Dark Bitter 60% achieved the highest ROAS of the campaign, 6.2, even with only 4.3% of the budget allocated, and also had the most competitive CPC.

Other notable products:

Almond & Toffee and Hazelnut 73%: together accounted for over 25% of combined revenue, with CTRs above 2%.

Lower-performing SKUs reinforced the importance of strategic assortment curation. The results show that higher perceived value products, such as high-cocoa and specialty chocolates, not only drive more engagement but also convert better.

With this solid foundation, Hershey’s is ready to expand its campaigns, strengthen its premium lines, and explore new high-potential categories. Maintaining a focus on data-driven decisions and dynamic media budget adjustments will be key to continuously improving performance.