Demand for s'mores spiked in areas with most COVID-19 cases, the CEO of Hershey saysand the company tracked infection rates to decide its ad spend

<p><img src="https://static6.businessinsider.com/image/60088e5f6d4c620018e41149-2400/GettyImages-452234982.jpg" border="0" alt="Hershey's chocolate bars" data-mce-source="Scott Olson/Getty Images"></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>As COVID-19 spread around the US, so did demand for s'mores, according to The Hershey Company.&nbsp;</p><p>"This past year, we noticed that wherever COVID case counts were elevated, we were seeing increasing sales of s'mores ingredients," Hershey CEO Michele Buck told <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/04/hershey-tracked-covid-trends-after-seeing-smores-demand-rise-as-cases-grew-ceo-says.html#:~:text=Menu-,Hershey%20tracked%20Covid%20trends%20after%20seeing%20s'mores%20demand,as%20cases%20grew%2C%20CEO%20says&amp;text=Chocolate%20sales%20were%2040%25%20to,were%20lower%2C%20the%20company%20said.">CNBC</a> on Thursday.&nbsp;</p><p>The company said chocolate sales were up to 50% higher in locations where COVID infection rates spiked, CNBC reported.</p><p>The Pennsylvania chocolate maker <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hershey-digital-strategy-to-snacking-helps-it-thrive-in-pandemic-2020-6'r=ks-sub">adjusted its digital marketing</a> to pinpoint these areas, Buck said.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cool-facts-about-hershey-2018-11">Hershey's</a> North American advertising and marketing expenses climbed 4.9% in the last three months of 2020. Buck on Thursday said the company used COVID-19 trackers to make better use of those advertising dollars, anticipating demand in areas where the virus was spreading.&nbsp;</p><p>"And then we were able to use the case count trajectory as a foreshadow of where we should focus some of those efforts, and build displays, and put media in those markets," Buck said.</p><p><em><strong>Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hersheys-mint-and-gum-sales-during-the-pandemic-2021-1'r=ks-sub">Hershey's chief growth officer lays out how the company boosted profits by 13% thanks to two new approaches to selling chocolate and mints</a></strong></em></p><p>The company's overall Q4 sales climbed 5.7% to $2.19 billion from the year-earlier period, it <a href="https://www.thehersheycompany.com/content/corporate_SSF/en_us/news-detail.html'122603">reported</a> on Thursday. Hershey's profit, meanwhile, spiked 41.5% to $405.1 million, the company said.&nbsp;</p><p>Last fall, Hershey said <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hersheys-profits-halloween-candy-chocolate-baking-lockdown-hersheys-financial-results-2020-11">chocolate and peanut butter sales</a> were booming, in part because people were baking more.&nbsp;</p><p>Erin Lash, senior director at Morningstar, wrote in a research note on Thursday that "Hershey's fourth-quarter performance is evidence that the resiliency it showed in the all-important Halloween season wasn't a fluke."&nbsp;</p><p>Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a research note on Friday that the company started shipping Valentine's Day and Easter candy earlier this year. The company <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hersheys-halloween-candy-early-demand-trick-or-treating-2020-8">had done the same</a> with Halloween candy in 2020, sending it to stores about a month ahead of its normal schedule.&nbsp;</p><p>Analysts at Credit Suisse early in 2020 <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/americans-may-turn-to-chocolate-for-comfort-coronavirus-hershey-sales-2020-3">had predicted a spike</a> in sales for Hershey, recalling a similar sales boost from the recession between 2008 and 2010.&nbsp;</p><p>On a conference call with analysts on Thursday, Buck said some of the company's other products have benefited from COVID-19, too.</p><p>Twizzlers had sold well because people are having more movie nights at home, she said.&nbsp;</p><p>"Products like Twizzlers ... turned out to be incredibly important for consumers during this very difficult time, where they wanted to cling to as much normalcy as possible," Buck said.&nbsp;</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hershey-smores-covid-cases-ceo-michele-buck2021-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-most-expensive-liquid-thoroughbred-horse-semen-2020-3">Why thoroughbred horse semen is the world's most expensive liquid</a></p>
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