Hidden Valley is commemorating America’s favorite condiment-based holiday in style this year, debuting a mobile-optimized retail swag store in addition to a promotion held on Instagram and a music video parody.

The Ranch Outlet is available now, and offers a selection of branded dad caps, T-shirts, knapsacks, towels, and — for the true Hidden Valley Ranch enthusiast — a jewel encrusted bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch and a personal Hidden Valley ranch fountain. The celebrations come fresh off of the heels of the company’s latest integrated campaign, Ranch Out, which launched earlier this year.

“Launching the Hidden Valley Ranch Outlet was really inspired by our fans,” said Jacquie Klein, associate director of marketing at Hidden Valley. “We have amazing fans that are so passionate about the brand that they many of them have created their own Hidden Valley themed clothing, costumes, and accessories.

“So to honor our fans and to celebrate National Ranch Dressing Day, we wanted to provide Hidden Valley Ranch lovers everywhere with fun merchandise to rep their pride today and beyond.”

National Ranch Dressing Day
The Instagram promotion takes the form of a contest geared towards the true ranch connoisseur; interested users can snap a photo of their “ranched out” dish and share it on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #RanchOutSweepstakes for the chance to win a range of prizes, including a year’s worth of Hidden Valley or a weekend for four at an all-inclusive ranch resort.

“Our Ranch Out Sweepstakes just launched and already we are seeing fans share how they are creative and inventive with Hidden Valley Ranch and their favorite foods,” Ms. Klein said. “We do think Instagram is a great platform to engage since our call-to-action is for fans to visually show us how to dip, dunk, and drizzle with Hidden Valley.”

The sweepstakes will end at the stroke of midnight, April 20.

Hidden Valley has also put on a remake of the 1990’s cult classic “Da Dip” on YouTube.

Instagram engagement
Smaller brands have been quick to turn to Instagram to hold contests that engage with enthusiasts. Recently, One of America’s favorite locales for juvenile revelry, Chuck E. Cheese’s, rung in the occasion of its 40th anniversary with a social media contest titled #KidsGoingOn40, in which parents can snap photos of their children acting like 40-year-olds (see story).

And clothing retailer Express is holding a campaign to align its brand image alongside consumers who are innovators, game changers and go-getters with an Instagram campaign that entices Karlie Kloss fans and amateur model hopefuls.

To enter, participants are asked to post a video to Instagram explaining how they embody a spirit of optimism and achievement “to achieve both personal and professional success” (see story).

“We know that Hidden Valley Ranch consumers are heavily engaged on mobile, so it’s crucial to be mobile-centric in our communication,” Ms. Klein said. “In the case of food brands, we believe it’s just that much more important since the phone is so central to many food related activities, whether it’s shopping lists or recipes, or even skimming social media for inspiration on what to make next.”