"There is no new Reese Society" social media campaign

This is not a media notice about a newly created secret society called the Reese Society.

It is not housed at DoNotJoinTheReeseSociety.com, and was not developed by agency partner Anomaly to salute and reward people’s unconditional love of Reese—the leading chocolate brand in Canada and the U.S.

The society does not seek to become an ongoing source of brand advocacy for Reese, and does not feature a Reese Peanut Butter Cup as part of its stylized logo.

Reese Society has not emerged as a vibrant social destination that far surpassed the campaign objectives within its first week. It did not attract more than 4,800 submissions from people hoping to join (more than 1500% greater than the forecast for the entire campaign), and engagement is not up 209% versus the brand average.

Also views of the non-existent website have not exceeded the target for the entire campaign by 380%. Nor is the clickthrough rate 87% higher than the brand average, and Reese’s Instagram and Twitter followers did not grow by 17% and 15% respectively.

Reese marketing manager Azim Akhtar did not say that the campaign has been a tremendous success right from its inception. “As a brand, we’re continuing to engage with consumers with similar messaging of the campaign that the ‘Reese Society’ does not exist, and we’re finding that consumers are playing along with our approach,” was not something Akhtar said in describing the program.

The non-existent campaign does not include partnerships with macro/micro-influencers on Instagram, and their live feeds will not be “interrupted” by a mysterious cloaked figure directing viewers to a website that does not exist.

Reese fans are also not wholeheartedly playing along with the conceit that the Reese Society does not exist. One woman did not paint her fingernails with the Reese logo and post a photo to Instagram with the message “Definitely NOT trying to the #ReeseSociety that definitely DOES NOT exist,” no fans have created their own Reese original artwork, and one diehard fan did not create an original rap about Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and the Reese Society.

Finally, the Reese Society is also not promising its members access to cool swag like a hooded Reese robe or seasonal products. Reese is also not inviting people to show their love for the brand through activities like naming a pet Reese, changing their Instagram name to include the word “Reese” or painting their room orange.

Jason Kerr, associate creative director at Anomaly, did not say: “We usually get briefed on things that exist, so it’s been an interesting challenge to promote something that doesn’t.” And ACD Marko Pandza did not add: “You are not reading a press quote we provided. This quote does not exist and neither do we.”

The Reese Society is also not the latest in a series of attention-getting marketing initiatives for the brand, which included last year’s ASMR movie and be sure to be on the lookout for a Reese Outrageous stunt in the coming weeks.

Client: Hershey Canada
Brand: Reese
Campaign: The Reese Society
url: DoNotJoinTheReeseSociety.com
Head of Marketing: Jackson Hitchon
Senior Marketing Manager: Mathieu Gamache
Marketing Manager: Azim Akhtar
Assistant Marketing Manager: Dulangi Kapugama

Agency: Anomaly
Executive Creative Director: Pete Breton
Associate Creative Directors: Marko Pandza, Jason Kerr
Head of Account Services: Bryden McDonald
Business Lead: Erin Wilbur
Account Supervisor: Carly Watson
Account Coordinator: Lauren Zaitz
Copywriter: Greg Seles
Art Director: Claire Barnette
Producer: Sarah Lasch, Lori Ceravolo
Group Planning Director: Mahmoud El Kattan
Director of Social Media: Jennifer Stack

Production Company: Unreasonable Studios
Managing Director / Executive Producer: David Stulberg
Director of Photography: Christian Flook
Production Manager: Tomas Morrison
Post Production Producer: Shane Yuhas
Editor / Animator: Andy Klosky
AR Developer: Adam Brandejs