Ben and Jerrys project
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Transcript of Ben and Jerrys project
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Part One
A Little about the Company
Vermont’s finest ice cream has always been near and dear to my heart because….well I’m a
Vermonter born and bred. Not only do they have some on the best quality ice cream in the world,
but their flavors are fun and creative with a little something for everyone.
Ben & Jerry’s began with two men and a passion for ice cream. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield
started their company out of a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont in 1978. With an
investment of $12,000 and $5 correspondence course in ice cream making from Penn State.
Around 1980, Ben and Jerry had to start packaging their ice cream in pints to distribute them to
local stores and restaurants. The first franchise location opened in Shelburne, Vermont in 1981
and the demand just kept growing.
Early on, The Ben & Jerry’s company has taken a stance to help out the local community, create
a product with no artificial hormones, and pressing upon the importance of going green and
taking care of the environment. In the past few years, Ben & Jerry’s has made their ice cream a
part of the fair trade agreement, excluded the use of GMO’s in their products, and taken a
political stance to make the world an all-around better place to live and eat ice cream.
Why is Ben & Jerry’s such a successful ice cream brand? I believe it’s due to their whimsical
nature and desire to make the world a better place through their company.
Mission Statement
Our product mission drives us to make fantastic ice cream – for its own sake.
Our economic mission asks us to manage our company for sustainable financial growth.
Our social mission compels us to use our company in innovative ways to make the world a better
place.
Tracking Social Media
Facebook: Ben & Jerry’s Facebook page has almost 8 million likes and updates their page with
an even distribution of fun articles, ice cream ideas, new flavors, videos, recipes, questions,
quizzes, and the occasional political stance or news snippet on human rights and going green.
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Twitter: Ben & Jerry’s Twitter page has thousands of people following and tweeting about the
company. This following is amazing and people seem to love interacting through their Twitter.
Ben & Jerry’s Twitter is filled with promotions, throwbacks to old flavors, environmental
acts/laws, and as of late Jimmy Fallon and their new flavor “The Tonight Dough”. This
combines people following either Jimmy Fallon or Ben & Jerry’s to cross over to each other’s
Twitter following. A smart move on Ben & Jerry’s part.
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Pinterest: Pinterest doesn’t necessarily give a brand a he following, but what it does do is support
the product and the many ways to use it. By searching Ben & Jerry’s on Pinterest you come up
with a few well know (and new) flavors, and methods of preparing it like making an ice cream
cake or ice cream cookie sandwiches.
Ben & Jerry’s own Pinterest page displays some of their history, the flavor graveyard, recipes,
peace, love, fan photos, and so much more!
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Google+: With almost 1.5 million followers, Ben & Jerry’s is doing amazing on Google+ seeing
as many people and companies don’t even have an account. From my knowledge and experience,
Google+ was Google’s attempt at creating their own version of Facebook. It failed miserably.
Realizing the blunder, Google unofficially made it so every company with a Google+ account
shows up easier and gets their name out there on Google. You may be on the fifth page of
Google when searching for ice cream, but with a Google+ account you get bumped up to maybe
the second page. How Nifty. Ben & Jerry’s happens to be on the first Google page when
searching for “ice cream”.
Website: As far as websites go, Ben & Jerry’s has a pretty sweet setup. It’s aesthetically pleasing
and easy to navigate. They have main links for their flavor list, shops, history, values, and news.
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Some Stats for You
Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is one of the most popular ice cream brands in the country (and fairly
popular globally as well).
How do I know?
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http://www.bitrebels.com/social/10-best-ice-cream-brands-social-media/
Oddly enough, although Ben & Jerry’s is a U.S. company based out of Vermont, it is most
popular overseas. In Sweden!
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Positive and Negative
These stats found on social mention aren’t too bad for the ice cream business. Ben & Jerry’s ice
cream is most definitely a leader in popular ice creams, but I did want to look into who these four
people were who didn’t like their ice cream. I mean common!
Not too shocking, the sentiments were only laced with negative words (as discussed in class) and
nobody really had an issue with the product. One reviewer was not thrilled with “Late Night
Snack” but that was a passing comment in a larger discussion. All in all, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream
doesn’t have any negative reviews, something substantial when it comes to a company and their
product.
The biggest qualm generally associated with the brand is the high price. Unless it’s on sale, a
pint of Ben & Jerry’s might run you anywhere from $4-$6. This is rather expensive for ice
cream. Then again, looking at the facts it makes perfect sense. They use local ingredients, no
GMO’s or hormones, they are environmentally conscious when it comes to what they are feeding
us, and have adopted fair trade practices. Also, nobody complains when you go out to get ice
cream and a double scoop of cookie dough ice cream costs $3.50. I’ll leave that for us all to mull
over.
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Conclusion…for now
Ben & Jerry’s is an unbelievably delicious ice cream brand, there is no denying it. It isn’t your
everyday birthday party buy in bulk ice cream. It’s a special treat when you’re dealing with loss,
binge watching Netflix, or simply want a yummy dessert after dinner. What makes Ben & Jerry’s
ice cream so special is their unique ideas and innovative way of seeing the future. The company
believes in a brand that supports a healthy environment, sustainable energy, and happy
customers.
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Part 2
Ben & Jerry’s in a Nutshell
Let’s get to the bottom of Ben & Jerry’s social media presence. I really cannot say enough about
the company’s character. They support organic and local foods, take a stand against GMOs,
support fair trade, gay equality, and make yummy ice cream! Even their mission statement
follows a three-part way to ensure company, buyer, and employee happiness.
Campaigns
Now their campaigns have been doing okay, but are relatively lack-luster. The two main
campaigns they have been focusing on are the promotion of their cookie core flavors (not the
best in my opinion) and their involvement with SNL and Jimmy Fallon with their new “The
Tonight Dough” and soon to be coming out “Wayne’s Swirled” flavors.
Cookie Core
Ben & Jerry’s is an ice cream brand, not in the business of cookies. While I commend them for
trying something different, the cookie cores are not that exciting. They have not been selling all
that well, and they are coming out with three new cookie core flavors soon. I believe their main
focus should be on creating new products and flavors rather than relying on gimmicks and
branching out on the types of ice cream they make. If a brand moves too far away from what
they’ve perfected, it’s a good way to go downhill fast.
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The Bromance with Jimmy
Now I’m not sure if Jimmy Fallon LOVES Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, or if the company loves
him, but there is certainly a connection here. This is Jimmy’s SECOND Ben & Jerry’s flavor and
he is crazy happy to promote it. Ben & Jerry’s has done this type of thing in the past where they
promote a celebrity figure with an ice cream brand, among some are Jimmy Fallon’s first flavor
“Late Night Snack”, Stephen Colbert’s “Americone Dream”, Jerry Garcia’s “Cherry Garcia”,
and Tina Fey’s “Liz Lemon Greek Frozen Yogurt”, just to name a few.
These flavors inspired by celebrities, characters, and bands, seem to do a lot for Ben & Jerry’s
brand, where the cookie cores do not. This is most likely because when Ben & Jerry’s makes an
ice cream based on a figurehead, they get a new opportunity to gain new fans with these flavors.
For instance, fans of the band Phish may take an interest in Ben & Jerry’s iconic “Phish Food” (a
personal favorite) and the company has gained new buyers. Clever marketing at its finest.
Social Mention
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Social mention stays fairly similar when it comes to Ben & Jerry’s. They always have the most
neutral comments, followed by positive, and very few negative comments (most of which are not
actually negative). As far as mentioning the specific promotions for Ben & Jerry’s such as cookie
cores, social mention doesn’t have them mentioned much. This means that people aren’t talking
about the new products very often, just the brand. While it’s still beneficial that the brand is
noticed in a positive light, their promotions don’t seem to be gaining a lot of strength on social
media.
March 12th March 15th March 17th
Google Trends
Ben & Jerry’s has actually been losing online media attention over the year, and in the recent
years has plummeted. This may be a main factor in why the company is trying so hard with these
cookie cores, frozen yogurts, and of course Jimmy. Instead of finding fancy gimmicks to get
buyers again, they should assess what they were doing back in 2007-2009 (their peak socially)
and move back towards those marketing choices.
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Here we can see that the cookie cores are doing a bit better, but not well in the long run. “The
Tonight Dough” however has gained a HUGE spike since it was released in 2015. When you
factor in that these two promotions were released during a similar time period, we can see that
marketing a new flavor for Jimmy Fallon/SNL is proving far more effective than marketing a
new brand of ice cream.
Food Fight
Ben & Jerry’s is an extremely popular ice cream brand, but there are other competitors as well.
Ben & Jerry’s does a great job marketing, but it does keep to a local feel that keeps it away from
corporate funds and popularity. When it comes to the most popular ice cream brands being talked
about, Ben & Jerry’s comes in the middle of the top five.
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The Target
Who’s the Target? Everybody who loves ice cream! What sets Ben & Jerry’s ice cream apart is
their unique flavor options and innovative brand choices. Ben & Jerry’s is not targeting an
audience that enjoys plain vanilla ice cream, or getting bulk ice cream for a birthday party. Ben
& Jerry’s is geared towards people who want to enjoy a fun treat. They only sell their flavors in
pints and occasionally mini cups. Typically, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream (in stores) is purchase by
women aged between their teens and adulthood.
In their scoop shops, there is a larger demographic consuming Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.
There would typically be a more gender equal purchasing of ice cream in shops.
As far as Ben & Jerry’s social media is concerned, they definitely market more towards women.
Some examples of their gender-bias marketing includes…
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Although they aren’t glaringly sexist, they are slightly marketed more towards women.
Strengths
Humanitarian and political activism
A delicious, fun, quality ice cream
Good web representation and visually appealing sites
All in all, Ben & Jerry’s does a great job creating fun flavors and a feel of humanitarian
involvement. They are known as some of the best quality and flavors of ice cream, and use better
quality ingredients for their product. They also have visually appealing social media sites and
website.
Weaknesses
New marketing tactics that don’t work
Overusing gimmicks.
The greatest weakness Ben & Jerry’s has as a company is moving too far away from what make
them famous in the first place. The cookie cores is a great example of this. It hasn’t generated a
lot of success, but they keep coming out with new cookie core flavors. It’s time to move on.
Also, it has indeed helped the company to use celebrities to endorse and create a new flavor
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from. BUT, I believe it would benefit the company to move in other directions when this is
concerned. Instead of continuing to give Jimmy Fallon ice cream flavors, why not find untapped
potential? “Harry Potter and the Deathly Marshmallows”, “Game of Cones”, “Stan Lee’s Super
Chocolate Chunk”. There are many ways to introduce a new fan base instead of sticking to SNL
favorites where your fan base is already located.
Recommendation: branching out with your flavors and how you market them within the realm
of celebrities and pop culture.