Oh Henry! is leaning into the spontaneity of its latest campaign with an equally time-sensitive approach to shopper marketing.

The retailer is sending out mass texts to Canadians who signed up for a chance to win a cash prize of $1,000. Participants have a one-hour window after receiving the text message to purchase an Oh Henry! product at a Circle K store for their chance to win a prize. They must upload an image of a receipt within 24 hours.

It’s part of agency FCB’s attempt to change a typical shopper marketing experience, which is primarily a solitary one, into what it is describing as a “feeding frenzy,” tying into the brand’s hunger-focused positioning.

The program is inspired by experiences like HQ Trivia, a trivia app that caused a sensation in 2018 through its nightly broadcasts that would generate multitudes of online discussion for what happened during a particular game. “By tapping into the collective experience, and asking Canadians to engage together, FCB hopes to breathe new life into the classic sweepstakes scenario,” says FCB senior art director Hussein Rumaithi. There are also elements of BeReal, a social photo-sharing app which prompts users to post images of whatever they happen to be doing when the app sends its prompt, which comes at a different time every day.

Shopper marketing has been a priority for Oh Henry! in recent years, especially with Circle K, where it has activated with high-impact displays.

Susanne Hartkorn, Hershey Canada’s associate marketing manager, tells strategy that convenience lines up well instant consumable products, like chocolate, and that what the brand is focusing on most is ensuring it reaches its target in relevant ways.

“The choice to activate now aligns well with consumers being more out and about, visiting c-channel as the weather warms up,” Hartkorn says, adding that the Oh Henry! consumer and the Circle K shopper “share many similarities.”

The “Feeding Frenzy” contest is an extension of Oh Henry!’s most recent integrated campaign from FCB’s, “Hunger Happens,” which reminds Canadians of both the spontaneity and inevitability of hunger. In the latest spot, puppet mascot Hank repeatedly pesters a young man and his girlfriend about whether they’re “hungry now?” and finally getting a yes when he is alone waiting at a bus stop.

Hank was created in 2021 by then-agency Anomaly in a campaign focused on how Oh Henry! solves hunger – and only hunger. Since taking over Hershey’s creative AOR assignment last year, FCB has kept Hank around, but with a message that now focuses more on the spontaneous, but inevitable, nature of hunger.

“Hunger happens eventually,” Hartkorn explains. “It could happen now… now… or now,” referencing the spontaneity of the positioning but also Hank’s catchphrase, which she hopes will be a brand asset that will become loved enough to have staying power.

The new “Hunger Happens” campaign is running across cinema, TV and social, with UM Canada handling the buy.