Ben & Jerry's Sundae Sessions

Insight

“Ben and I built Ben & Jerry’s on the idea that business has a responsibility to the community and the environment,” Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s.

Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream had cult status. The quality of ingredients, the combination of flavours and the irreverent names (Chunky Munky) made it unlike any other. At the very core of the brand was a social mission to give back to the community. Despite the genuine love people had for the brand, it was not without its challenges. Ben & Jerry’s was a premium product, priced higher than its competitors. Pricing wars at the freezer further exacerbated this price difference. With limited distribution, you would not find tubs of Ben & Jerry’s within every freezer.

Therefore whilst people always loved Ben & Jerry’s, it was becoming easier to forget what it was like to sit and eat a tub of the finest. Because of this challenge, the brand set aside $200,000 to increase sales by 23% with a very big caveat – the brand also wished to benefit the local community.

Strategy

The Sunday Session was a key part of Australian culture. The term ‘Sunday Session’ was coined by a young working professional when describing that ritualistic moment during the week: “you know, when you realise you only have a few more hours to properly relax, hang out with your mates and have a bit of fun before Monday rolls in again.”

This notion of making the most of the last few hours of the weekend linked perfectly to the brand.  A tub (or even scoop) of Ben & Jerry’s is not something people liked to rush, people wanted to spend time indulging in every mouthful.

So the brand saw a synergy between the Sunday Session and a Ben & Jerry’s Sundae.

Execution

The strategy and idea came to life through creating Ben & Jerry’s own branded event platform - The Ben & Jerry’s Sundae Session. 

The brand identified a series of key partners that it wanted to bring together - partners that understood the mission behind the strategy and understood that this was more than just selling ice-cream.

The first was a sponsorship of the Open Air Cinemas which provided an outdoor space to attract the target group through a series of movies to play after sunset. In keeping with the social mission, the brand then partnered with ‘Tunes For Change’ which gave it access to the best artists in Australia ensuring it provided live performances from the likes of The Cat Empire, Kate Miller-Heidke and Hungry Kids of Hungary amongst others.

An album featuring the artists who performed was later released by Ben & Jerry’s with all proceeds again going to charity.

Through an MTV partnership, the brand captured content from these Sundae Sessions and created branded vignettes that ran across MTV’s online and TV platforms bringing the events to life for a wider audience. 

The selected local charities including Animals Australia and Life Options were able to use the weekly Sundae Sessions events to chat to the crowds about what they did and how this community could help support the cause.

Results

Through the platform Ben & Jerry’s provided local charities, raised an additional $30k for Tunes For Change, Animals Australia and Life Options and generated $580,000 worth of PR.

93% of people recalled Ben & Jerry’s as the primary sponsor of Open Air Cinema (unprompted) and 65% were aware of the Ben & Jerry’s social mission at the Sundae Sessions and 68% are more positive towards the Ben & Jerry’s brand as a result of their experience.

With a budget of just $200,000, Ben & Jerry’s smashed sales goals by 347% across Sydney and Melbourne.
• Sydney: 321% (i.e. 23% goal to 74% increase)
• Melbourne: 374% (23% goal to 86% increase)
• (Brisbane increased substantially, however the client is unable to isolate how much is due to store expansions in this market)

This truly exceeded expectations particularly as this was the only activity running (there were no other changes to price, distribution or promotion during this period).

BRAND:

Ben and JerrysBen and Jerrys

BRAND OWNER:

Unilever

CATEGORY:

Food

REGION:

Australia

DATE:

October 2012 - April 2013

AGENCY:

Mindshare