Hallmark’s Darren Abbott has been at the company for more than 28 years, but he says his career there has been a constant evolution, thanks to the fact that the brand is highly innovative.
“This brand has always been about putting more care and goodness into the world, which is universally relevant and timeless. It’s as relevant today as it was when we were founded,” says Abbott. “As we move into the future, we want to create new relevancy in a way that not only creates new experiences for consumers but also new ways to interact with us.”
The latest way the 114-year-old brand is staying modern is with the launch of the Hallmark+ streaming platform in mid-September. The new site will replace the brand’s existing streaming platform, Hallmark Movies Now, as the central hub for Hallmark’s programming.
“Hallmark+ is a completely new service,” Abbott continues. “What’s unique is that we’re investing in all new content, new movies and new series. There will be new scripted series and we’re getting into new genres for the first time ever. We’ll be moving into unscripted and reality programming, but we’re going to do it in a way that is uniquely Hallmark, telling uplifting stories and putting more positivity in the world.”
The new site will have a number of new series including Celebrations with Lacey Chabert, in which Chabert partners with a whole suite of party planners and professionals who are tasked with finding people in the community that have done good things and creating parties for them. Finding Mr. Christmas, is an original competition reality show about finding the next big Hallmark movie star. Hosted by Jonathan Bennett, each week, there will be competitions and someone will be eliminated. The final winner will then star in a Hallmark Christmas movie this year. The series will air on Hallmark+ and then the movie will air on Hallmark Channel.
Subscribers will receive a suite of benefits that only members will have access to – free greeting cards (both physical and digital), a $5 a month coupon for our Hallmark Gold Crown stores, a birthday gift, a welcome gift and a unique keepsake ornament each year.
“We’re not really thinking about it as a streaming service. We’re thinking about this as a lifestyle bundle,” he continues. “At Amazon, you get a utility based-bundle with free shipping and things that make your life easier. Hallmark+ is more of an emotional lifestyle bundle. It helps you care more. It helps you connect more, helps you reach out and interact with those that you love.”
Brand Innovators caught up with Abbott from his office in Kansas City, MO to talk about the new streaming service, fandom and a loyalty program that connects streaming with retail. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Can you talk about the audience for this and who you’re hoping to connect and then how you’re reaching this audience?
There’s some interesting things happening from an audience behavior standpoint. The consumer landscape has shifted significantly over the last few years but the Hallmark brand is universally needed. While some brands try to zero in on a very specific consumer target, we’re a brand that really believes we’re for everyone. As a result of that, we’ve got a pretty robust plan to make sure that we’re reaching multiple consumer segments in personalized ways.
We are data-driven. We want to understand consumer behavior and then use that as a way to then frame not only our messaging but what we talk about with consumers and ultimately how we’re telling the story not only about Hallmark+ but about the Hallmark brand in general.
How are you trying to break through in the consumer landscape where many people are subscribing to multiple platforms?
It’s no secret that all of us subscribe to many streaming services. What we think is important is that we stay very true to the Hallmark brand. We have a very specific purpose and we use that North Star to guide every decision. The slate of programming that we’ve created is very specific and unique to our brand. People understand what the Hallmark brand is. Our brand fandom is growing year-over-year. People are looking for us and they want more from us. Hallmark+ breaks through the clutter and the noise that’s out there right now because we stay true to who we are as a brand. We never veer from the DNA that defines who we are and what we do.
Can you talk about the marketing you’ll be doing to get the word out about the new platform?
It’s probably one of our biggest marketing investments that we’ve done in recent history. We see this as a really important program that connects all of the various pieces of our business. It’s really an entire ecosystem that we’re creating and as a result of that, our marketing plans are pretty broad. We’re going to be just about everywhere and use just about every kind of tactic, but we’re going to do it in a highly personalized, customized way.
We’ll start out with a lot of upper funnel awareness messaging to get the word out about Hallmark+. We want people to understand that this is more than just a streaming service. We want them to understand that we’ve got great new content. The best way to do that is to get some great marketing awareness out there. We’ll be working with a whole slate of influencers and throughout our owned and earned ecosystems across our retail business, as well as our media business. One of the unique things that we have as a brand is these built-in branded touch points that we can take advantage of. We’ve got the consumers. We just need to activate them and help them understand what we’re offering, then quickly convert them to the new service.
Can you talk about what you do to cultivate loyalty among these customers?
Hallmark has a very robust retail loyalty program called Crown Rewards. We just launched a new Hallmark Cards Now app. You can send cards from it, but you can also access all of your loyalty benefits, so when you’re shopping in one of our whole Hallmark Gold Crown stores, you’ve got your membership dashboard. You’re going to understand all of your loyalty benefits, as well as your Hallmark+ benefits. We’re really trying to create a seamless experience for our loyalty members so whenever they’re interacting with the Hallmark brand, we’re right there alongside them reminding them of the benefits that they receive.
Our Crown Rewards loyalty program will continue to be a free loyalty program as it exists today. Hallmark+, as a membership program, sits on top of that foundation of Crown Rewards. Hallmark+ members will have opportunities to earn even more rewards from us, things like more bonus points, the more products you buy from Hallmark. If you’re a Hallmark+ member, you will get more points. We’re going to reward streaming behavior as well. You’ll be able to stream a new series on Hallmark+ and earn points for every episode that you watch. If you watch the entire series we’ll give you a bonus. Those bonus points start to add up pretty quickly and you can turn those into a coupon to shop our stores or on Hallmark.com and get free products.
You watch this great content and it ultimately translates into retail and monetary benefits for you. It is grounded in this idea the CEO of Hallmark Mike Perry uses that our consumers are our viewers and our viewers are our consumers. We wanted to make sure that we were building this program to really connect both sides of the business and both aspects of the consumers and the viewers.
Can you tell me about how your past experiences have helped the way you think about your current role?
Hallmark has a unique culture. Folks tend to come here and stay a long time. I’m certainly a product of that. I’ve been at Hallmark for 28 years. I’ve literally grown up in this place. We are a purpose-driven brand. A lot of brands claim to be purpose-driven, but Hallmark truly is. We are focused every day on putting more caring and connecting out in the world.
I’ve had a breadth of experiences. I spent time in product design at Hallmark. I spent a lot of time on the marketing side. I spent some time on the digital side, but the thread that connects all of that is that purpose. Working on various programs, be it a product or marketing or entertainment for our consumers, you start to uncover new opportunities. What I learned about connecting the needs when you’re planning a line of greeting cards for young people, you may not think that’s that relevant to how you think about marketing a new television series, but it is especially when it’s grounded in what our brand stands for.
