Ever since American Licorice Company established its core values of integrity, compassion, engagement, and teamwork, also known as “Ice T,” after asking associates what core values they saw in their co-workers, the company has sought ways to reflect and promote those values through campaigns.
“It made sense to align our brand with similar messaging and really have a purpose behind the brand,” said Vice President of Marketing Kristi Shafer. “Instead of just being a delicious treat, we looked for other ways to tie back to the core values of our organization. We invested in happiness in a variety of different ways.”
The SOUR PUNCH® brand within American Licorice launched its campaign, Embrace Your Punch, four to five years ago to share a message of love and kindness with children and people of all ages who are fans of the SOUR PUNCH® brand.
“Embrace Your Punch is a message of self-love,” Shafer said. “It’s about embracing what’s unique and different about yourself and then appreciating the differences in others. We often judge others because they are different. We need to focus more on embracing differences and bringing people together.”
American Licorice found that this campaign resonated with young people, helping them enjoy the uniqueness they found in themselves and others rather than despising and even bullying themselves and others because of that uniqueness.
As an inspirational speaker who overcame his habit of bullying others and talks about the dangers of bullying, U.S.A. Track & Field Athlete Norris Frederick reached out to American Licorice, saying he was a big fan of what they were doing. He was able to overcome this habit through the love and support of different influences in his life, including teachers and people from Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana.
Shafer did some research on Frederick following his reach out and discovered Frederick’s commitment to advocating for anti-bullying. Frederick’s advocacy lead to American Licorice bringing him on as a spokesperson for Embrace Your Punch.
In September of 2018, American Licorice partnered with Frederick and Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana to create a video for the Embrace Your Punch campaign where club members discussed their struggles with self-love and bullying.
Shafer revealed that through this video, American Licorice wanted kids to be able to share their own stories about bullying and being bullied, knowing how meaningful it would be for kids to hear other kids talk about their experiences with bullying. This way, they would know that other people had gone through it; they were not alone, and they were understood by others their own age.
American Licorice has received an abundance of praise surrounding the Embrace Your Punch Campaign through conversations at events and comments on social media. Mothers have approached the SOUR PUNCH® booth at events to voice their appreciation for the push of this positive message for kids. Kids have thanked SOUR PUNCH® online for hearing and seeing them when they had not previously felt heard or seen.
American Licorice is thrilled and proud to receive this feedback and happy to know that its commitment to investing in the happiness of others is making a difference.
“We have an obligation to do something positive in this world,” Shafer said. “Because our product gets in the hands of a lot of young people, I think it is up to us to help amplify a positive message for them. There’s too much negativity. Embrace Your Punch is a positive message we’re trying to use to educate people young and old.”
To learn more about American Licorice Company and its various campaigns to spread positive messages, visit https://www.americanlicorice.com/en/.
