Earned & PaidHershey
Hershey spent $612M on advertising and marketing in fiscal 2025, up 2.0% on the year before and +19% since 2019. That's 5.2% of revenue, less than in 2019: the business outgrew its marketing.
Marketing spend by year
Bars: advertising and marketing expense, $B (10-K). Line: spend as a share of revenue. Years where the filing's revenue line isn't comparable are left out of the line.
What they told investors
“The expectation for the full year is unchanged, still expect to see double-digit increase in marketing and advertising.”management · 2026 Q1 · transcript
“We put the demand creation together with the marketing -- and then what we do is we bring that to life like we've never done before at the 4th of July, and we've activated that with our sales force.”Kirk Tanner · 2026 Q1 · transcript
“we'd expect to see our brand investment up double digits across the quarters”Kirk Tanner · 2025 Q4 · transcript
“we're really focused on fueling demand creation through things like scaling some investments in R&D and innovation, brand building, reap the retail sales team and the technology around that”management · 2025 Q4 · transcript
“It is a balance of delivering pull and push.”management · 2025 Q4 · transcript
“we're gonna continue to leverage nonworking media to support new brands and occasions as well.”Kirk Tanner · 2025 Q4 · transcript
What the 10-K says about marketing
- investing in brand “tained in connection with these acquisitions, achievement of these synergies will be driven by our ability to successfully leverage Hershey’s resources, expertise, capability-building, distribution locations and customer base. If we are unable to successfully couple Hershey’s…” 10-K, Feb 17, 2026
- investing in brand “Goodwill was determined as the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of the net assets acquired (including the identifiable intangible assets). The goodwill derived from this acquisition is not expected to be deductible for tax purposes and reflects the value of…” 10-K, Feb 17, 2026
Say vs do
Hershey has made 2 statements about its marketing budget for a year that isn't filed yet; the verdict comes with that 10-K.
What they said
“The expectation for the full year is unchanged, still expect to see double-digit increase in marketing and advertising.”
Management on the 2026 Q1 earnings call, Apr 30, 2026 · transcript
Too early to check FY2026 isn't filed yet.
“we'd expect to see our brand investment up double digits across the quarters”
Kirk Tanner on the 2025 Q4 earnings call, Feb 5, 2026 · transcript
Too early to check FY2026 isn't filed yet.
What they did
| Year | Marketing spend | Change | Share of revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $612M | +2.0% | 5.2% |
| FY2024 | $600M | -0.8% | 5.4% |
| FY2023 | $605M | +16.8% | 5.4% |
| FY2022 | $518M | +1.2% | 5.0% |
| FY2021 | $512M | -1.0% | 5.7% |
| FY2020 | $517M | +0.8% | 6.3% |
Against its peers. Compared with the 11 other CPG advertisers we track (Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Colgate-Palmolive, Kimberly-Clark and 6 more): since 2019 its marketing spend went +19% (peer median +36%); its share of revenue moved -1.2 pts (median +0.8); last year +2.0% (median -0.6%).
In interviews, its leaders made 90 statements about marketing: 5 argued for investing in brand and 1 for cutting.
How we check: a statement gets a verdict only when it's clearly about the size of the whole company's marketing budget over a full fiscal year; we compare it with the advertising and marketing expense in that year's 10-K. Statements about one quarter, one brand or channel, or the mix between brand and performance can't be checked against annual filings.
What they say about media
The marketing channels it talks about using for itself on earnings calls and in its 10-Ks and 10-Qs, since 2019; counts are statements, not spending.
- Measurement “I mean there's enough view that we're measuring incrementality and the breadth of our portfolio allows us to play in these tentpoles and seasons without being redundant or cannibalizing each other.” Kirk Tanner on the earnings call · Apr 30, 2026 · source
- Experiential & events “And that's really the element of what tentpoles brings, it is more activation on the perimeter, getting into more occasions and more moments that consumers are celebrating.” Kirk Tanner on the earnings call · Apr 30, 2026 · source
- Creative campaigns “But when you look at the campaign, it's your happy place with Hershey's.” Kirk Tanner on the earnings call · Feb 5, 2026 · source
- Sponsorships & athletes · Linear TV “In just a couple of days, for the first time in brand history, Reese's will be running an advertisement during the 2020 Super Bowl.” Michele Buck on the earnings call · Jan 30, 2020 · source
- Programmatic & display “We continue to optimize the right balance across earned and paid impressions; and also, within the paid, what is the optimal level of TV versus digital and getting tighter and tighter on the digital relative to addressable and programmable media that allows us to reach the exact…” Michele Buck on the earnings call · Apr 25, 2019 · source
In the news
- Hershey's India launches 'Life is hard, par Hershey's hai na yaar' campaign Campaign India · Sep 29, 2026 · campaign