Kylie Kelce Fronts Honey Baked Ham's Holiday Campaign

Kylie Kelce stars in Honey Baked Ham's new holiday campaign, which debuted Oct. 19 — and the ad's setting was her idea, not the brand's.

The campaign centers on a modest Honey Baked Ham store in Broomall, a Philadelphia suburb. The store sits in a strip mall next to a Wawa, a dry cleaner and a nail salon. It isn't much to look at. But it carries real personal weight for Kelce: it's where she shopped as a girl, then known as Kylie McDevitt, buying the family's holiday hams with her grandmother Mimi.

Maegan Markee, chief commercial officer of Honey Baked, was happy to go along with the idea of putting both the store and the story at the heart of the holiday push.

Why does one strip-mall store anchor a national campaign?

Because the story is the asset. A suburban retail location next to a Wawa is forgettable on its own. Pair it with a celebrity's genuine childhood memory — holiday hams, a grandmother, a family ritual — and it becomes the emotional spine of the creative. That authenticity play is the pitch here, and it came from the talent herself rather than the marketing team.

Kelce's suggestion to feature the actual store and her actual history gives Honey Baked a nostalgia-driven narrative without manufacturing one. That matters for a brand whose product is tightly bound to holiday tradition.

The takeaway: the campaign's emotional credibility rests on a real place and a real memory, supplied by the star.

What does the timing tell us?

The campaign launched Oct. 19, early enough to own the holiday retail window before the ad noise peaks. And it arrives while Kelce's commercial profile is rising — the Honey Baked partnership follows her collaboration with Mummy Pig, keeping her in the brand-rotation conversation through the gifting and hosting season.

For Honey Baked, signing a personality with an existing fan base and a seasonal, family-oriented image aligns neatly with what a holiday ham brand needs: warmth, tradition and a reason to choose one centerpiece over another.

The takeaway: an October launch plus a trending spokesperson gives the brand a running start on the holidays.

What's the bigger picture?

Honey Baked is betting that specificity sells. Rather than a glossy generic holiday spot, the campaign leans on one store, one grandmother and one family's routine. Chief commercial officer Maegan Markee's willingness to build the campaign around Kelce's personal pitch signals a brand comfortable letting authenticity lead.

Expect the family-ritual framing to do the heavy lifting through the season — it's the kind of story a ham brand can tell for years.