General Mills and DoorDash Launch BFF Celebration Campaign on National Best Friends Day

The Insights

• General Mills and DoorDash collaborated for National Best Friends Day with paid social media, influencer content, and a free event, “Besties on Broadway,” in Nashville.
• Aimed at Gen Z and Millennial families, the campaign boosted sales and influenced summer purchasing.
• The pop-up event drew 550+ attendees, distributed 1,000 bracelets, 3,000 snacks, leading to General Mills’ highest DoorDash sales month with new customers.

General Mills and DoorDash collaborated to celebrate National Best Friends Day on June 8, with a special campaign and promotion that celebrates unique BFF relationships.

To kick off the partnership and campaign, General Mills tapped into paid social media, influencer content, and digital promotion on the DoorDash platform to amplify and expand the reach of the promotion. Additionally, they brought the National Best Friends Day campaign to life on May 31 with a free, one-day experiential event activation, “Besties on Broadway”, in downtown Nashville. The financial agreement between the parties was not disclosed.

According to Jamie Needham, senior customer marketing manager at General Mills, the company recognized the special bond between best friends and created a fun way to celebrate their favorite people by giving them their favorite snacks. With DoorDash, consumers can send a snack care package to their distant best friend to brighten their day. Moreover, DoorDash’s extensive reach and strong presence across key markets in the U.S. made it the ideal partner for this campaign.

“We wanted to create an authentic way for our brands to solve a need in a busy household,” said Needham. “Why not bring joy by simply adding their favorite snack brands to cart and sending them to a faraway or down the street BFF to brighten their day in honor of this super special day.”

The goal of this campaign is to leverage the timing of the micro-holiday and the start of summer to capture the attention of Gen Z and Millennial families with children. Ultimately, the brands aim to drive incremental additions to shoppers’ baskets and influence consumers’ purchasing decisions and behavior at the beginning of the busy summer season, especially for snacking occasions.

“As we entered into this partnership, we knew we needed to find ways to grow the DoorDash and General Mills business while still staying true to the role DoorDash is playing as they build grocery consumers, the fill in trip,” said Needham. “Our objective was to drive incrementality and grow a reason to purchase at doordash outside of your everyday grocery needs.”

General Mills’ pop-up event drew over 550 attendees in just six hours, surpassing typical event averages. Visitors spent over 10 minutes at the event, making friendship bracelets, enjoying snacks, and taking photos. Over 1,000 pre-made friendship bracelets and more than 3,000 snacks were handed out. The brand stated that this in-person event has contributed to its third highest sales month to date on DoorDash.

Moreover, the campaign brought new households to General Mills products, with half of promotion redeemers being first-time customers.

Needham emphasized General Mills’ continuous pursuit to expand its consumer base through strategic partnerships like DoorDash. Needham believes collaborations provide consumers with memorable brand experiences, keeping General Mills brands prominent in their minds throughout the year.