🧠 How Hershey’s Built a Holiday Signal for Three Decades

Today’s Edition of Captivated: How Hershey’s Built a Holiday Signal for Three Decades

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“Okay… now it actually feels like the holidays.!”

The holidays have a way of arriving in small moments.

A familiar song plays in the background… the lights feel a little softer at night… something familiar comes on the TV while you’re half paying attention, wrapped in a blanket, letting the season settle in.

Your brain recognizes it immediately.

These moments work because familiar cues carry memory and emotion with them. When the same signal returns year after year, especially during meaningful times, it starts to feel like part of the season itself. Over time, the cue becomes a marker your brain uses to orient itself in time.

That’s the quiet magic behind Hershey’s Christmas Bells. (You can watch the iconic ad here).

A simple sound, repeated at the same moment each year, turned into a signal that tells your brain the holidays are here. Let’s look at how that happened, why it works so well, and what it teaches us about designing cues people welcome back every year.

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📈 FUN FACT: DID YOU KNOW?

The Hershey’s Kisses Christmas Bells commercial first aired in 1989 and has returned almost every holiday season for 35 years, making it one of the longest-running holiday ads still airing today.

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.. How Did We Get Here? ..

The Hershey’s Bells has lasted 35 iconic years because they were built for the conditions holiday advertising actually operates under.

First airing in 1989, the Hershey’s Bells have returned almost every holiday season since, earning a place among the longest-running holiday ads still airing today.

Born from a spontaneous idea, the Holiday Bells commercial went on to become one of the most recognizable holiday ads in American advertising history.

John Dunn, Hershey’s brand manager at the time, created the 15-second stop-motion animation featuring Hershey’s Kisses as handbells playing We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

The ad is Hershey’s longest-running commercial and evokes the holiday season without a single spoken word or celebrity. Over time, it became a cultural touchstone and a beloved beacon that the holiday season is coming.

Every holiday season creates an unusual environment. The same ads run over and over in a short window. People see them repeatedly, often while distracted, often in the background, often while doing the same seasonal activities year after year. That kind of repetition quietly filters out ideas that depend on surprise or novelty and rewards ideas that feel better with familiarity.

The Bells fit that environment from the start. The campaign centered on a short, distinctive sound and a simple, repeatable structure that the brain could recognize almost instantly. Each time it appeared, it became easier to process. Over time, that ease turned into comfort, and comfort turned into expectation.

Timing amplified that effect. The ad returned at the same point in the holiday season, which allowed it to attach itself to routines people already had.

As years passed, the campaign accumulated meaning. Each return carried memories from previous seasons, which meant the ad didn’t need to reintroduce itself or explain why it mattered. Recognition handled that work.

That accumulated role became clear in 2020, when Hershey’s experimented with versions that moved away from the familiar cue. People were NOT happy, expressing a sense of loss and confusion, and missing that oh-so-familiar cue that told their brain the season had arrived.

Like Mariah's 'It's Time', and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Hershey Holiday Bells helped mark the beginning of the holidays. When the classic version returned the following season, it confirmed the role the campaign had quietly earned.

This is how the Bells endured. They were designed to thrive under repetition, anchored to a specific moment in time, and simple enough to let familiarity compound. Over years, that combination allowed a short sound to turn into a seasonal signal people instinctively recognize and crave.

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.. Brain Science-Backed: The Psychology Behind It ..

Here’s the brain science behind how Hershey’s has been able to win us over for the holiday season the last 3 decades:

🧠 Nostalgia as Emotional Glue

Nostalgia strengthens memory by blending emotion with familiarity.

When the same sound returns year after year, the brain layers new experiences on top of old ones, creating a warm sense of continuity. The bells begin to carry memories from past holidays, which makes each new viewing feel richer and more personal.

🧠 Auditory Memory and Fast Recognition

Sound reaches memory quickly.

Familiar melodies require very little effort to process, which creates a feeling of ease. That ease often gets interpreted as comfort, especially when the sound appears during emotionally positive moments like the holidays.

🧠 Temporal Landmarks and Seasonal Memory

The brain organizes time using markers.

When something reliably appears at the same point each year, it becomes a temporal landmark. The bells help signal the transition into the holiday season, making them feel like part of the calendar rather than part of advertising.

🧠 Predictability and Emotional Safety

When the brain knows what’s coming next, it relaxes.

The predictable sequence of the bells, the pause, and the red plume creates a sense of calm that fits naturally into holiday routines. Over time, that predictability blends into tradition.

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.. Use this Psychology Strategy ..

Here are ways to design with similar familiarity, timing, and sensory memory in mind.

1. Pick one sensory cue and keep it unchanged. Choose a sound, visual, or motion that can stay stable over time, like:

The brain recognizes sensory patterns faster than messages. When the cue stays the same, recognition does the work before attention even kicks in.

2. Return with that cue at the same moment every year (or cycle). Decide when your brand shows up and protect that timing, like:

Showing up at the same moment turns your brand into a temporal marker, something the brain uses to orient itself in time.

3. Keep the structure predictable, even if details change. Let people know what to expect by repeating the same sequence, like:

Predictable structure lowers cognitive effort and creates emotional ease, which makes the experience feel comforting.

4. Let repetition do the signaling. Avoid reintroducing or re-explaining the idea every time. Instead:

When the brain recognizes something instantly, it treats it as familiar territory, and familiarity carries trust.

5. Commit to a full season or year before changing anything. Choose one idea and let it live long enough to accumulate memory, like:

Memory strengthens through accumulation. Each return builds on what’s already there, making the cue feel settled and expected.

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.. tl;dr & captivated wrap-up ..

The Hershey’s Bells show how familiarity, timing, and emotion can turn a simple cue into a shared ritual.

By returning with the same gentle cue each year, the campaign settled into memory, attached itself to holiday routines, and became part of how the holidays feel.

When a cue shows up reliably at the right moment, it earns recognition without asking for attention.

And that’s why, when the bells play, almost Pavlovian-like, it suddenly feels like the holidays.

I hope you’re having Happy Holidays!