The Best Easter Marketing Campaigns of All Time

Easter is an egg-cellent time for brands to get creative with their marketing campaigns and fight for the consumer’s attention. 

From ‘How Not To Eat’ your easter egg campaigns to an adult toy easter egg, we really do have a wide variety of campaigns on our list. If you are looking for some ideas for marketing campaigns, look no further. Here is the list of our favourite Easter campaigns of all time…

 1. Cadbury’s ‘How Not To Eat Yours’ campaign

If there is a brand that knows how to do Easter campaigns well, it is Cadbury, the King of Chocolate. Being the creator of the Creme Egg, we would expect nothing less. Throughout the years, it has had countless famous campaigns and this year was absolutely no different.

In 2022, Cadbury’s put a twist on its well-known ‘How Do You Eat Yours?’ campaign which was first launched in the 1980s. It launched the ‘How Not To Eat Yours’ campaign back in January, with a prize-winning one hundred and forty-six limited edition Creme Eggs in circulation, all valued at different winning amounts, from £50 to £10,000. We are eagerly awaiting to see the statistics of this campaign!

2. Durex Easter X

How do you get recognised for having one of the best Easter marketing campaigns without selling chocolate or candy? Creativity, that’s how. 

In 2015, Durex hopped into the Easter campaigns hall of fame with its Easter X egg; a limited edition egg with adult-only toys inside. These eggs were only available via their social channels, with the help of the most followed celebrities bringing attention to this unusual egg. This campaign resulted in Durex’s engagement rate dramatically increasing from 1% to 10% throughout the Easter period.

3. IKEA and their VÅRKÄNSLA flat-pack easter bunny

Another brand not typically expected to be found on this list is IKEA. IKEA is always on top of its reactive marketing and this 2019 Easter campaign proved their team had a winning strategy. 

IKEA and flat-pack furniture come hand-in-hand, and the simplicity of this campaign is genius. The furniture giant combined their speciality with the Easter season to create the famous flat-pack chocolate bunny (and the best bit is that it is completely edible!) The 3D bunny was available in selected stores for only £2.95. 

 The retailer said, “Not only is the VÅRKÄNSLA chocolate bunny super delicious, it can also double up as a decorative Easter figure, perfect for your seasonal celebrations.” 

This is a great case study to see how to get involved with holidays that are not directly related to your industry and help you think of ideas for your marketing campaigns.

4. Cadbury’s live easter egg hunt

Obviously, Cadbury’s had to have two mentions in this list for its legendary Easter campaigns - its marketing team knows exactly how to do an Easter campaign well. 

Cadbury’s live Easter egg hunt hosted in 2018 caused a real buzz on social media, as the 360-degree live egg hunt allowed Facebook users to join in the fun. Users who were the first to spot the Easter eggs (confirmed with the comment section) were even given a real-life Cadbury’s chocolate reward after the virtual challenge. The campaign was a huge success with a huge 220,000 participants across Australia attempting to hunt for the virtual eggs, with a total of 70,000 comments. 

This wasn’t the last time Cadbury hosted a virtual Easter egg hunt. In 2020, in response to the Coronavirus pandemic, it used a similar idea in-person egg hunts were not allowed. Cadbury is already counting down the days until this year's ‘Worldwide Hide’ commences.

5. Haribo #HuntTheDoubleYolker campaign

This campaign was one of the biggest campaigns Haribo had ever carried out, hoping to encourage consumers to opt for a packet of its sweets instead of the typical Easter chocolate egg. 

The competition encouraged consumers to #HuntTheDoubleYolker and find one of the twenty limited edition packets of Starmix featuring the hand-crafted double yolker Haribo eggs. The lucky winners who found the exclusive double yolker eggs were rewarded with a UK family holiday. 

These Easter marketing campaigns demonstrate how getting your audience involved can improve the results of your campaigns. Over the Easter season, typically competitions and chocolate prizes are the way in which brands choose to get their audiences involved with their campaigns.

Are there any well-known Easter campaigns that you loved that we haven’t mentioned here? Let us know over on our Instagram or LinkedIn.

Written by Keira Penney