2. 1
Table of Contents
The History of Ben & Jerry’s……………………………………………………. 2
Situational Analysis….. 3
Product……………………………………………………………………
Consumer…………………………………………………………………
Competitor………………………………………………………………
Market……………………………………………………………………
SWOT Analysis………………………………………………………………… 6
Objectives………………………………………………………………………8
MediaObjectives………………………………………………………………10
Budget…………………………………………………………………………12
Target Audience………………………………………………………………13
Tactics………………………………………………………………………14
Creative Brief…………………………………………………………………16
AdvertisingExamples………………………………………………………17
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MediaPlanning……………………………………………………………20
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………24
3. 2
History of Ben & Jerry’s
Ben and Jerry’s manufacture various flavors of ice cream, frozen yogurt and sorbets.
The company was started by best friends, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, and was opened
in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont. To this day, the headquarters lies in
South Burlington, Vermont since May 5, 1978. The ice cream company is known for its
signature chunks because co-founder Ben Cohen has a condition called anosmia, which
means that person has a dysfunctional olfactory system and can’t smell or taste very well.
In order to compensate for this condition, Ben would add larger and larger chunks of
various add-ins in order to satisfy his need for texture. This would eventually go on to play
a major role in the formation of Ben and Jerry’s signature ice cream style that incorporates
larger chunks.
They are known for being a more “liberal” company, and supporting many human
rights campaigns on issues like GMO labeling, climate justice, LGBT equality, peace-building
“get the dough out of politics!”, Fairtrade and opposing the use of rBGH. Ben and Jerry’s
foundations works for social justice, and protecting the environment through small grant
programs and community service events.
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Situational Analysis
Product:
Ben & Jerry’s is known for creating a variety of ice cream products, but the main
advertising focus is on their signature flavors. These ice cream products are available for
purchase by the carton and are fairly reasonable in price. The ice cream is known for
having “chunks” of chocolate, fruit, or candy mixed in with the ice cream which is what sets
Ben and Jerry’s apart. Founder Ben Cohen has severe anosmia, which causes him to be
unable to taste his food, relying on texture to spice up his diet. So, the chunks that are
included in all of their ice cream was really for Cohen, but ended up being a huge hit with
their consumers! Not only is their ice cream delicious with its signature chunks, it is also
famous for their flavors being named after celebrities, presidents, and other popular
figures. While some flavors are being dedicated to people, other flavors are being dedicated
to global, economic, and social causes. With the creative names used for their flavors, Ben &
Jerry’s ice cream has 64 flavors available to purchase in grocery stores and Ben & Jerry’s ice
creameries. The most popular flavor up to date has been “half-baked, ” and received a total
revenue of over 349.9 million dollars.
Consumer:
The consumers for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream products are men and women between
the ages of 25-40 that have children and are considered to be “suburban families.” These
consumers tend to be college-educated and have executive positions or white-collar jobs to
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provide for their families. Ben & Jerry’s consumers are active and focus their lives around
their children. They tend to buy items such as pizza, poptarts, and Lunchables while at the
grocery and shop at stores like Target, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart. Due to their busy lifestyles,
the consumers are usually unable to read newspapers or magazines. But, the consumers do
watch network sitcoms and reality shows, as well as sports and entertainment. When not
watching television, they take their children to local attractions such as the zoo, museums,
and playgrounds to break up their everyday routine.
Competitor:
As of 2015, Ben and Jerry’s main competition is Haagen Dazs, Blue Bell, Generic
Brand ice cream (such as Marsh, Kroger, Market Pantry, and Great Value) and Nestle
Dreyer’s Ice Cream Co. Ben and Jerry’s tries to keep up with their competition, but there are
places that the brand is just not able to compete with their counterparts. Ben and Jerry’s is
more expensive than their competitors. When it really comes down to it, when consumers
have a sweet tooth, they don’t want to spend a lot of money just to fill a temporary need.
The distribution and keeping the freshness of Ben & Jerry’s can be difficult against their
competitors because they use such natural products without added preservatives. Lastly,
Ben and Jerry’s is a very issue-friendly company. But not all of these issues are always
supported by everyone, like LGBT rights. When Ben and Jerry’s takes a side on these issues
publicly with their ice cream flavors and commercials, it can cause a lot of controversy with
their consumers. These stances that Ben and Jerry’s takes on issues can hurt them against
their competitors because they don’t openly take on such touchy issues.
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Market:
The market that Ben and Jerry’s currently resides in is the ice cream industry. The
average U.S. citizen consumes almost 26 liters of ice cream a year, which is good for the ice
cream industry. Ice cream follows a pretty strict popularity trend, being very popular in the
summer due to the higher temperatures and extra free time. Conveniently, July is national
ice cream month, boosting more sales for an already popular industry. In 2014, U.S. ice
cream companies made more than 872 million gallons of ice cream! D.C., Rhode Island,
Wisconsin, Massachusetts and Texas take the top five states in the U.S. for consumption of
ice cream respectively. Chocolate ice cream accounts for 14% of US sales, but the most
popular to date is still vanilla.
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SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
Unlike many food companies, Ben & Jerry’s prides themselves on the fact that their
company stands up for social issues as well as protecting the environment. The company is
known for being philanthropic and donating large sums of money to multiple charities. Ben
& Jerry’s is a well-known brand that sells their products in their own franchises as well as
participating grocery stores. The key factor that makes Ben and Jerry’s stand out is their
“signature chunks” ice cream as well as having quirky names referencing popular culture
within the media.
Weaknesses:
While it is great that the company is philanthropic, this causes issues as to where
their money is being spent. Money that is going toward their charities could be money used
to create more efficient and appealing advertising. With that being said, Ben & Jerry’s
advertising is somewhat childish, having almost every commercial animated can cause
viewers to feel that the icecream is not directed for them. In this day in age, not only is it
important to target your consumers but it is also important to follow current trends. Ben &
Jerry’s has not jumped on the healthy foods bandwagon, therefore proposing a weakness
within their products.
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Opportunities:
With so many ice cream options, Ben & Jerry’s could create ice cream that is gluten
and peanut-free due to so many allergies. Another opportunity would be to have their ice
cream put in HFC-free freezers in order to omit harmful chemicals from being released into
the grocery stores when the door is opened. Lastly, the company could expand their
franchises and products to South America, which has become an emerging market over the
years.
Threats:
Threats to Ben & Jerry’s could include the change of income for the target market,
making it more difficult to sell, possible e-coli contamination if the products are not
properly made, unhealthy options compared to other brands and frozen yogurt, and the
price in animal feed rising causing the cost of milk to increase thus, increasing the price to
produce the ice cream products.
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Objectives
Based on the sales of 2015, Ben & Jerry’s is currently fifth behind its
competitors, therefore our main objective of this campaign is to improve sales for Ben and
Jerry’s ice cream. We have a few objectives that we would like to achieve in order to reach
our main goal of beating out Ben & Jerry’s competitors.
Our first objective is to improve the sales collectively of all Ben & Jerry’s franchises
by 20% by the end of August 2016. These sales will primarily be tallied through how much
money they are making off ice cream sales. So, the more people that are coming in the door
of these franchises, the better. We are giving our franchises till the end of the summer in
order for our plans to go into effect and impact their sales.
Our second objective is to increase all of the followers on their social media
(Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) by 10% by the end of August 2016. For instance, their
Instagram currently has 627,000 followers, and we would like to increase this 690,000
followers. By increasing the amount of followers on their social media, the word would
spread about the positive image and premium ice cream that Ben & Jerry’s has to offer.
Our third objective is to increase the awareness of the “Issues they care about” to
their target audiences. Before starting this campaign, we were unaware of exactly how
many issues that Ben & Jerry’s associated themselves with. So, by increasing the awareness,
it could show they are a truly caring and compassionate company that fights for the rights
of its consumers. Social activists would be drawn to the issues because they support
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companies that believe in what they believe. Parents could be satisfied with buying Ben &
Jerry’s for their children in order to teach them valuable lessons about societal issues.
Our fourth objective is to increase the amount that Ben & Jerry’s is spending on
press (print advertisements) to at least 5%. Currently, Ben & Jerry’s has only about 1% of
their budget blocked off for press-related advertisements. So, by improving their press
advertisements could reach more of the audience that they are targeting.
Many of these objectives are able to be achieved through our media objectives that
will be drawn out in our next section. With these overall objectives, we hope that we can
help Ben & Jerry’s in the long-run.
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Media Objectives
In order to reach Ben & Jerry’s target audience, certain media objectives must be set
in place. Ben & Jerry’s goal is to create a presence on multiple media platforms. The media
objectives have been broken down into five categories, online, print, television, radio, and
public advertising to reach every potential consumer.
The first media objective revolves around creating an online presence for Ben &
Jerry’s ice cream. Banner ads and pop ups will be displayed on websites relating to family
matters, home and gardens, and blogs.These are prominent sites to advertise on because
they are the go-to websites for Ben & Jerry’s target audience of middle-class, on-the-go,
suburban families. With that being said, these families are always doing activities therefore
Ben & Jerry’s feel that it is wise to not only display banner ads and pop-up ads, but also
provide coupons to the target audiences’ emails and for completing surveys relating to Ben
& Jerry’s ice cream. Other areas to target online are social media sites such as Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat. These sites receive high numbers of online
traffic, therefore it makes sense to advertise for the amount of publicity the company will
receive.
The second media objective relates to print advertising. Ben & Jerry’s ice cream
products will be advertised within different magazines such as Parents, Home and Garden,
OK, People, and Parent & Child. These magazines are perfect to advertise in due to the fact
they are most frequently read by parents and those within the middle class. The print ads
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will consist of generic Ben & Jerry’s ice cream images with clever slogans to appeal to
parents and make them want to go out and buy the product.
The third media objective is television. Advertising on television allows the
company to reach their target audience during multiple times of the day. Commercials will
be aired on popular television networks such as Fox, NBC, CBS, ABC, ABC Family, HGTV,
Travel, and TBS. These networks are chosen because they receive the highest views during
hours that parents will watching TV. These hours are considered to be in the morning from
7am to 10am because the parents are getting ready for work or the busy weekend and in
the evening from 4pm until 10pm because this is the time the parents are coming home
from work, preparing dinner, and relaxing. During these time slots, the television is most
likely on in the background therefore the target audience can receive the advertising
message while doing other activities.
The fourth media objective is radio advertising. Commercials will be aired on
popular stations such as Z99.5, 100.9, 93.9, and HankFM during the morning when the
target audience is commuting to work (6am-8am) and in the evening when they are
commuting home from work (4:30pm-6:30pm).
The fifth and final media objective is outdoor and public advertising. The overall
idea for public advertising is taking the Ben & Jerry’s products to places such as sporting
events (Pacer, Indians, and Colts games) because you have a large amount of your target
audience in attendance, as well as at concerts and state fairs because both of these types of
events happen during the summer. When advertising out in public, the brand would offer
free samples, coupons, and so forth to get their name out to potential consumers.
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Overall, these five media objectives will allow Ben and Jerry’s ice cream to achieve
their objectives and reach their target audience.
Budget
In order to maintain a steady, positive income, Ben & Jerry’s advertising budget will
remain around the same as it has in the years past. With that being said, the estimated
advertising budget for this media plan is 1,000,000 to 1,700,000 dollars. The budget is
broken up into different categories and the amount of money going into each category is
based on percentages. In 2014, Ben & Jerry’s spent 62.3% of their advertising budget on
television, 1.9% in press media, and 35.8% in cinema advertisements. Due to the
ineffectiveness of these percentages, Ben & Jerry’s will now spend 45% on television
advertising, 40% creating an online advertising presence, 5% on radio advertisements, 5%
on outdoor advertising, and 5% on press media. The main goal of switching the
percentages and adding new advertising categories is to reach our target market and
enhance our presence within the current media trends.
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Target Audience
Our primary target audience is parents. People that have children-centered lives,
and provide for them. These people are always on the go, and often times are too busy to
take the time out of their day to read magazines or newspaper. This is why social media has
taken over in the past decade, because it is so easy and on the go. Ben and Jerry’s is a
company that caters to the youth in everyone, with a playful humorous appeal. Ice cream is
a favorite childhood treat and Ben and Jerry’s is known for using whimsical colors and
names of the ice creams, that adds to the wanted effect.
Their secondary audience consists of males and females ages 13-30 who actively
support social causes close to their heart. Research shows that 7 out of 10 American young
adults are considered to be social activists. This audience is also more than particular about
being health conscience and care about where their food’s ingredients come from. This
segment also displays an affinity of concern for the world around them. Ben & Jerry’s
supports many causes that would pull at their heart strings.
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Tactics
Ben & Jerry’s uses special tactics to increase their revenue. A specific tactic used to
buy the target audience's’ attention is the USP (unique selling proposition). USP attracts
potential consumers by showing the target audience that the company has values as well as
supports social causes such as social justice and environmental issues. By using USP, the
company is showing the consumer that while you’re enjoying a somewhat unhealthy
option, you are still supporting a company that helps other causes which makes the
consumer feel not as guilty eating the product.
First, we would like to start off with social media tactics. By updating our social
media as frequently as we can will get our consumers and followers attention. Social media
promotions are a good way for consumers to quickly see what you are trying to say
because they are so on-the-go. We can offer coupons, deals and discounts through our
social media in order to keep up the promotions of our products. Also, featured photos at
Ben & Jerry’s events, factories, franchises, etc. could spark some interest into exactly what
Ben & Jerry’s is about. Finally, featuring social media competitions during the summer
could be beneficial. Featuring families enjoying Ben & Jerry’s ice cream would be great
publicity for the company, but also engaging with their audiences through their social
media builds a good relationships. Another competition could be getting your customers
feedback or suggestions about their products, further building a better relationship.
Developing good media is going to further help us reaching our overall objectives.
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Next, we wanted to touch on our publicity tactics. By giving out free samples of ice
cream at outdoor venues, such as concerts, festivals, sporting events and even protests
could help spread the word about their company and prove their caring image for their
consumers. We wanted to focus on a lot of outdoor publicity such as billboards and posters.
We would like these posters to specifically be on the glass doors where ice cream is sold at
grocery stores in order to attract not only the attention of parents shopping, but their kids
riding around in the carts. The billboards would be in urban cities near children attractions
such as playgrounds, museums and malls to attract their attention in places that they
frequent. Finally, we would like to bring back the ‘Cowmobile’. Ben & Jerry’s used to have a
traveling ice cream truck that traveled across the country giving out ice cream to people.
We thought that bringing that back could not only trigger nostalgia for consumers who
remember the truck, but a cool idea for young children who miss having an ice cream truck
come around to their neighborhood.
Lastly, we want to increase the frequency of commercials that are aired on TV.
These commercials can be about the issues they care about or their products in general. We
just want the name of Ben & Jerry’s to be getting out there more. All in all, we want to
position Ben & Jerry’s ice cream as the best ice cream there is out there to buy in the mind
of our target audience.
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Creative Brief
Goals: To reach the objectives that we have set for the campaign, while still upholding the
issue-conscience and positive brand image Ben & Jerry’s portrays
Target market:
Primary: Parents (male and female), 25-40, with children, “suburban families”
Secondary: Social Activists, males and females, young adults (13-30), any race
Issues: Along with ice cream having a bad connotation as always being unhealthy for you,
Ben & Jerry’s takes on a lot of societal issues that might bring a lot of controversy to the
company
Objectives: Focus on the media objectives that we have set to further our overall
objectives
Emotional Needs: Focus on an emotional appeal: Rewarding your kids and supporting
good causes would appeal to both of our audiences.
Competition: Haagen Dazs, Blue Bell, Generic brand ice cream (Marsh, Kroger, Market
Pantry, Great Value), Nestle Dreyer’s Ice Cream Co.
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Advertising Examples
In all of our advertising, we decided to keep on one core message: “Ben & Jerry’s has
the best ice cream because they use their quirkiness to support important societal issues,
while also being unique and premium quality ice cream that does all they can to satisfy
their consumers”. With that being said, we had a couple of ideas when it came to
advertising that we felt conveyed the message that we had come up with for Ben & Jerry’s.
First, we wanted to hold a social media photo contest with the hashtag
#100daysofbennjerry. The reason why we chose the number 100 is because from looking
at the average 10 year olds spring break is about 100 days long, thus a picture a day for
summer break. Parents would take pictures of their kids, or as a family, eating Ben & Jerry’s
with the flavor that they were enjoying and use the hashtag on Twitter and Instagram.
Then, Ben & Jerry’s would post the picture to their media accounts. It would be a fun way to
show other families enjoying Ben & Jerry’s products!
Second, we wanted to create a celebrity challenge for Ben & Jerry’s consumers.
Through social media, Ben & Jerry’s can hold ‘Celebritize It!’ where they ask consumers to
create a whole new flavor, celebrity inspired and all. The consumer would have the ability
to come up with the flavor and add-ins, but they would need to explain how it related back
to their celebrity. Then, after the winner of ‘Celebritize It!” was announced, the winner
would be able to meet the celebrity that they chose for their ice cream! It would be a cool
experience to meet the celebrity they made the ice cream after, and hopefully, bring some
good publicity for Ben & Jerry’s with having a good relationship with their consumers.
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Third, as we touched on in our tactics, bringing back the ‘Cowmobile” is a must.
Giving Ben & Jerry’s this factor of being accessibility to the entire country would only make
them look good as a brand. The ‘Cowmobile’ also would travel to rallies and protests of the
issues they support to not only support the causes, but the people that are out there
rallying by providing ice cream for protesters.
Fourth, again stated on our tactics, creating posters featuring Ben & Jerry’s
advertisements for the glass doors where they keep ice cream in grocery stores. These
advertisements could be directed right at children, maybe even be at the children’s eye
level on the door. These ads would need to be very colorful to get children’s attention, as
well as look tasty enough for a kid to beg his parents to let him get Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.
Fifth, cows have become a signature staple for the Ben & Jerry’s brand. We thought
it would be fun for franchises to feature people dressed up in cow costumes at all the
franchises across the country, and give consumers the opportunity to take their picture
with them. These cows could also be giving out special promotional deals only available at
Ben & Jerry’s locations to create more foot traffic into their franchises. Parents would think
it was cute for their kids to be in a picture with a cow and it would bring consumers into
their stores to buy their products.
Lastly, we want to utilize the celebrity following that is already a part of the Ben &
Jerry’s lineup. Jimmy Fallon is someone that we would like to take advantage for in our
advertising for Ben & Jerry’s. Jimmy interacts with his audiences a lot, especially when it
comes to his specials like asking parents to videotape themselves telling their children that
they ate all of their Halloween candy. It’s almost always entertaining because the kids have
hilarious reactions, and it attracts a following because other parents want to know what
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their children’s reactions would be. So, we decided that we could ask Jimmy to have the
kids try Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and videotape their children’s reactions to eating the ice
cream. Almost all kids love ice cream because it’s a sweet treat, so catching whatever
ridiculous or funny thing they said could build popularity for the brand. And like the
Halloween candy videos, other parents would hop on board because they want to know
what their kids would do if they tried Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for the first time.
Our advertising obviously wouldn’t stop there but we wanted to come up with funny
ideas because Ben & Jerry’s portrays themselves as a quirky company. We wanted the
advertisements to be as creative as possible in order to put Ben & Jerry’s on top and
outshine their competitors.
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Media Planning
Ben & Jerry’s media plan will revolve around a national campaign due to the fact the
company is targeting adults ages 25 to 40 that tend to live in middle class suburbs with
their families. The secondary target audience revolves around male and female activists of
all races and ethnicities between the ages of 25-40. Therefore, it makes sense to reach the
target audience across the United States because there are middle class families and
activists in every state. With that being said, our reach objective is set at 55% of our target
audience with a reach of 8. Our target GRP for this campaign is going to be set at 440 GRPs.
We have created a table to show the reach and frequency we would like to attain for
each medium we will be using. Our mediums include: TV, Online, Print (Press), Radio and
Publicity. The television medium will relate to 30-45 second commercials on focusing
around families enjoying Ben & Jerry’s ice cream at different events (sporting events,
family get togethers, quality time at home, theme parks, etc). These commercials will air on
networks such as Fox, NBC, CBS, ABC, ABC Family, HGTV, Travel, and TBS during the hours
of 7 am to 10 am and 4pm to 10pm. Online advertising will feature banner advertisements,
pop up advertisements, and online coupons (coupons are rewarded oncethe consumer has
filled out a survey or clicked a link redirecting them to Ben & Jerry’s website. Advertising
will also be relevant on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
Pinterest, and Snapchat. Print advertisements will be featured in magazines such as
Parents, Home and Garden, OK, People, and Parent & Child. The print advertisements will
focus on the different Ben & Jerry’s products by themselves rather than being placed within
22. 21
a scene. Radio advertisements consisting of 30 seconds or less will air on popular top-hit
stations between the hours of 6:30-8:30am and 4:30-6:30pm. Finally, publicity advertising
will include engaging with consumers in public by promoting Ben & Jerry’s products at
sporting events (Pacer, Indians, and Colts games) as well as at concerts and state fairs.
While advertising out in public, the company will offer free samples, coupons, and so forth
to get Ben & Jerry’s products out on the market and on the target audience's mind.
GRP REACH FREQUENCY
TV 50% 8 spots
Online 60% 7 spots (on 7 different sites:
Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, Target, Walmart,
Youtube and Snapchat)
Print 62% 7 spots
Radio 50% 8 spots
Publicity 40% 11 spots
Ben & Jerry’s media schedule will follow a flighting method. This means that
advertisements will be only be displayed during a specific period of time. Due to the fact
Ben & Jerry’s products are usually referred to as a “summer treat,” the company will
display advertisements during the months of March through August. During the months of
March through May, there will be a high amount of frequency due to the fact these months
are leading up to summer when the temperature is rising and people are looking for colder
food products to consume. Advertising during these months at such a high rate will
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convince the target audience that this product will hit the spot and be a great treat for a hot
summer day.
During March through May, Ben & Jerry’s advertisements will be aired daily on
television and the radio through commercials, on social media through promotions and
coupons, and as print advertisements in magazines. During the months of June and July,
there will be a frequency lower than March through May but higher than August. These
months are the prime season for selling and due to the fact we prepared the target
audience to purchase the products in March through May, the company is now just
reminding them to buy the products. During these months fewer television commercials
will be shown as well as magazine advertisements and social media promotions and
coupons. Radio ads will occasionally be played allowing the target audience to remember
the message will out and about. In the last month of advertising there will be no television
ads, but there will be occasional magazine and radio ads.
Overall, this media timeline is chosen due to the specific objectives for the brand as
well as their monthly sales pattern. During these months there are no constraints on the
budget and the company is receiving a steady flow of income.
Month Type ofScheduling
March Flighting - TV Ads, Magazine Ads, Social
Media Promos & Coupons,Radio Ads
April Flighting - TV Ads, Magazine Ads, Social
Media Promos & Coupons,Radio Ads
May Flighting - TV Ads, Magazine Ads, Social
Media Promos & Coupons,Radio Ads
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June Flighting - Fewer TVAds, Magazine Ads,
Social Media Promos & Coupons, Radio Ads
July Flighting - TV, Magazine Ads, Social Media
Promos & Coupons
August Flighting - Radio Ads, Magazine Ads
Color indicates type of frequency used:
Blue- High frequency
Purple- Medium frequency
Pink- Low frequency
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Conclusion
In conclusion, we believe that Ben & Jerry’s will be able to rise above their
competitors with the media plan that we have suggested. Ben & Jerry’s takes big risks by
being so forward about their stance on controversial, but we believe they can use it to their
advantage in the future, as well as marketing themselves as a better, more delicious
product than their competitors. Ben & Jerry’s ice cream stands for good causes, creative
ideas and premium taste that has been around for years, and will continue to be.
