Pepperidge Farm has really captured the spirit of the season with a new holiday promotion encouraging consumers to share a cookie house photograph or personal holiday baking story for the opportunity to win $10,000 toward a home improvement project. To further drive home (pun intended) its message, the iconic Norwalk, Conn.-based brand, a division of the Campbell Soup Co., also made a $50,000 donation to house-building ministry Habitat for Humanity.

“The holidays are the perfect time for fun household projects that bring the family together,” noted TV personality and celebrity designer Tracy Hutson, who is helping to promote the cookie house sweepstakes. “Building a cookie house is a great way to make memories at home, express creativity, and begin or continue a special family tradition.”

To help people build their own dream cookie houses, Pepperidge Farm is providing an online video, at http://cookiehouse.pepperidgefarm.com, featuring step-by-step directions for creating one. Through 11:59 p.m. EST on Dec. 31, 2009, site visitors can access the cookie house recipe using Pepperidge Farm cookies. By uploading their photographs and stories, consumers will be entered in the contest for a $10,000 gift card to a home improvement store, so they can enhance the houses in which they actually live.

The promotion is a perfect dovetailing of brand, occasion and the idea of home. After all, taking the time to be with those important to us is the essence of any successful celebration. Pepperidge Farm gets that, and other CPG companies, as well as retailers, should be mindful of it as well. Of course, selling more of a product in the process of reminding people to create special memories with their families and friends is fine, too.