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Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream

Social Media Tracking

- Jessica L. Davis

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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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Twitter also likes to get interactive with their followers!

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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.