Hi, below is a deep dive on Adam Cook’s work for CPG brands.
To explore his broader portfolio, please visit adamcookbook.com.
REESE’S INNOVATIONS
Reese’s is The Hershey Company’s largest brand, with over $3 billion in sales per year. I expanded the scope of our in-house team to include Reese’s projects traditionally reserved for external agencies. Below are two examples. To note, Reese’s PB&J sold out and was brought back the following year. Popcorn has been a driver of the 28% annual sales growth of the salty snack business.
For Reese’s Popcorn, we leveraged the ambition of a top London design firm to produce these two spots on a budget of just $20K:
KIT KAT - BRAND CAMPAIGN
One of my responsibilities at The Hershey Company was spearheading external agency projects. For example, we partnered with the wonderful team at Orchard to craft a character-driven Kit Kat campaign. Sales were up +18% three months post-launch.
Our production was very efficient, capturing 23 distinct social videos in one afternoon, for use throughout the year.
The characters made surprise media appearances, stepping in to give Twitch streamers and Jimmy Kimmel’s team a Kit Kat break:
DOT’S PRETZELS - NATIONAL LAUNCH
After Hershey bought a growing regional pretzel brand, our in-house team won a multi-agency pitch to launch the product nationally. Three and a half years later, our campaign is still running and Dot’s Pretzels’ market share has doubled. It’s now the #1 pretzel brand in the country, accounting for 100% of all growth in the category.
The brand had been growing by word-of-mouth (with very high repeat users), and was about to see vastly expanded distribution, so we put pack and product front and center. We wanted to build brand recognition and drive trial.
REESE’S LAVA SUPER BOWL
As a member of the Reese’s Lava cross-functional Super Bowl team, we partnered with our external agency to extend the concept beyond the bowl. Sales jumped 164% in the week after the game.
KIT KAT - SHAPES LAUNCH
To launch Kit Kat’s new seasonal, shaped chocolates, we partnered with Paramount’s creative team for a “free” value-added :30 spot, integrating it with our paid social concept. This work contributed to a 95% sell-through, making Kit Kat shapes a top 5 growth franchise of the holiday season. It was also System 1’s Ad of the Week:
SEASONAL - EARNED MEDIA
KIT KAT NEVER-ENDING BOWL
One of my first in-house projects at Hershey was creating a trick-or-treat bowl that magically refilled itself, bringing childhood fantasies to life. This blew up on TikTok, was featured on late-night talk shows, and earned two billion impressions.
These two TikTok videos alone scored over 8 million views and 380K likes:
REESE’S SECRET STASH
In the same Halloween season, we did a Reese’s stunt that scored another billion earned impressions. This time, creating a Halloween bag where you hide Reese’s in a secret compartment, apart from the rest. Bags were sent to influencers and media outlets, garnering much buzz:
HERSHEY’S KISSES POKEMON COLLAB
Hershey’s was able to feature ALL 151 distinct Pokemon on their foil wrappers, so we knew we had to engage the community’s collectors. We created limited edition Collector Boxes, sent them to Pokemon influencers and media members, then partnered with paid influencers to promote the collab.
A 100% sell-out success, the collab returns in 2026. The boxes were going for $350 on Ebay.
FULFIL PROTEIN
Our in-house team launched this protein bar on the simple insight that it tastes like candy. Two years since launch, the insight remains core to the brand’s messaging.
IN-HOUSE CO-BRAND OCCASIONS
HERSHEY’S & ROLO FALL BAKING
HERSHEY’S & REESE’S MOVIE NIGHT
SOCIAL & DIGITAL COLLECTION
The Hershey in-house team made countless social and digital assets (often on a $0 production budget). Here are a few:
This quick post made from partner assets was found and reposted for FREE by Snoopy’s IG page:
THE TRICK-OR-TREATABLE COSTUME: To help parents give out candy AND go trick-or-treating with their kids, we partnered with a Broadway performer to promote our dual-use costume.
CONAN PARTNERSHIP: Conan serendipitously named his summer podcast, “Summer S’mores,” so we sponsored it and integrated Hershey’s into the show’s content throughout the summer.
HERSHEY’S “S’MORE MORE” PACKS
Integrating with a pre-existing retail CTA, “Let’s S’more More,” our in-house team partnered with Hershey’s packaging team to create a series of pack designs featuring distinct “S’mores Spots.”
CPG WORK EXAMPLES - PRIOR TO HERSHEY IN-HOUSE
BABYBEL - For two years, our team at Y&R Chicago crafted 100+ static organic posts for Babybel, raising their social following 400% on a $0 production budget.
BLUE MOON BEER - This work gave the #1 craft beer brand a 5% sales lift.
BUD LIGHT
BUTTERBALL